



Copyright N°. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




■ 04- 



U8RARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JUN 3 190/ 

Copyright Enfey 

3, '(joy 

USS pu XXc M N«, 
COPY B. 




Copyright 1907 by The Penn Publishing Company 



Socialism 



\ 



PREFACE 

In this book the author has tried to present, 
plainly and clearly, the ideas of socialism as he 
has found them in nearly a year's study of the 
subject. A twelvemonth is little time enough to 
give to a topic so comprehensive and important 
as the one here treated, and no pretense is made 
that the aim has been other than to present the 
surface facts of socialism in an attractive and 
popular way. 

In the preparation of the work the best 
authorities have been drawn upon and their 
ideas given, either in their own languages, in 
some few instances, or in a manner seemingly 
better suited to the needs of readers who ap- 
proach the subject for the first time. Credit has 
been duly given in some cases, but in others it 
has not been deemed necessary to do so because 
of the wav in which such extracts have been 
simplified, adapted, and combined with original 
matter. The socialist's replies to the individual- 
ist, in the final chapter, for example, have been 

3 



4 PEEFACE 

made up from statements found in the works of 
Dr. Howard A. Gibbs, Jack London, and Prof. 
Eichard T. Ely. The objections of the in- 
dividualist are such, it is believed, as would 
naturally arise in the minds of the opponents of 
socialism, and the author has not hesitated, in 
the answers, to make use of many ideas which 
occurred to him as likely to be of value. 

With the hope of lending added interest to the 
narration of present-day conditions and conditions 
as they would probably obtain in a cooperative 
commonwealth, it has been thought best to de- 
scribe the experiences of a working man in both 
cases in simple story form, as actual occurrences 
in the life of a laborer. For those who desire to 
pursue the study of socialism further, a list of 
the most important works regarding it is given 
at the end. 

In view of the increasing amount of attention 
and serious thought now being given to social- 
ism, not only by the workers, but by men of 
education and professional training, no one who 
desires to keep informed regarding the great 
movements of the time can afford to be without 
at least some knowledge of the subject. It is 
for the inquirer and the general reader rather 



PREFACE 5 

than for the socialist himself that the present 
treatise has been written, but it is hoped that, 
even those already familiar with socialistic doc- 
trines will lind, in the method of arrangement 
and simplicity of presentation, something to 
commend and approve. 

C. H. O. 



Contents 



CHAP. PAGE. 

Preface ............ 3 

I Some Existing Evils ....... 13 

Socialism's Growing Favor 13 

Income Tax 14 

What the Press Says . 15 

Growth of Large Fortunes 15 

Wealth Controlled by the Few 16 

Growth of a Proletariat 17 

What It Is 17 

Home Made Goods 18 

Simple Beginnings 19 

New Industries . . 19 

Natural Order of Business Growth 20 

The Growth of Self-interest 21 

Good and Bad Employers 21 

The Division of Labor 22 

The Trust Evil 23 

Trusts and Politics 23 

Bribery 23 

The Senate not all Bad 24 

Trusts and the Courts . 24 

Corrupt Judges 24 

Defeated Justice 25 

Injunctions 26 

Economic Position of Women 27 

Marriage and Race Suicide . . . 27 



o 



Increased Cost of Living 

Some Striking Statistics 28 

Evils of Child Labor 28 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

II The Socialistic Programme .... 31 

Union of Workers .... 31 

The Cooperative Commonwealth 32 

List of Reforms 33 

Practical Results 36 

The Shorter Working Day 36 

Mutual Aid Funds 37 

A Trust Insurance System . 37 

The Public Ownership Idea 39 

Inheritance Taxes 41 

III The Life of a Working Man .... 42 

Democracy of Childhood 43 

Natural Products 44 

The Feeling in America 45 

The Class Feeling 45 

A Question 46 

Ill-Got Riches 46 

The Honest Rich 47 

The Evils of Child Labor 48 

The Cannery 48 

The Poor Must Work 49 

Babes at Work 50 

Southern Cotton Mills , . . 50 

A Little Girl's Answer 50 

The Glass Trade . ... 51 

Other Trades 51 

IV The Life of a Working Man (Continued) 52 

The Idle Class 53 

A Great Evil 54 

The Strike Breaker 55 

A Truth 55 

The Mill Worker • -; . . 56 

A Corner in Cotton 57 

The Machine 58 

Woes of Labor 60 

Less Chance for Poor Men Now . . 60 

The Rise of Trusts 62 



CONTENTS 9 

Labor Unions . . 63 

Working Girls and Women 64 

Decrease in Marriages 65 

The Bitterness of the Struggle 66 

V Some Wrong Ideas of Socialism . . 69 

Socialism vs. Anarchism 71 

Socialism and Marriage 73 

Socialism and Religion 74 

Socialism Defined 75 

Personal Freedom Under Socialism ..... 76 

Socialism's Four Elements . . . . 77 

VI Life Under Socialism 79 

The New Industrial System 79 

The New Era 80 

An Equal Partnership 80 

The Changed Viewpoint ........... 81 

Use of Inventions 81 

Goods Distributed According to Desires .... 82 

Great Private Luxury Discouraged 83 

Improved Home Life . 83 

For the Use of All 84 

Absence of the Class Feeling ... ... 84 

Income not Dependent Upon Trade Conditions . 85 

Work for All 85 

Public Care in Case of Illness 86 

No Child Labor 86 

Freedom of Children During School Age .... 86 

Art and Science Under Socialism 87 

Their Increased Importance 87 

VII Life Under Socialism (Continued) . . 89 

The Choice of Work 89 

The Nationalist Scheme 89 

Graded Labor 91 

An Objection 91 

Absence of Present Troubles 92 

Strikes and Other Evils 93 



10 CONTENTS 

Wastes 94 

A Striking Example 95 

Profits 95 

Chance Eliminated 96 

Present Uncertainty of Demand 97 

The Farmer's Greater Independence .... 98 

VIII Life Under Socialism (Continued) . 100 

No Taxes 100 

Unhappy Millionaires 101 

Learned Professions Under Socialism . . . . 101 

Fewer Laws Required . 102 

Benefits of Socialism to Women 103 

A Cure for the Social Evil 104 

More Marriages Probable 105 

Trade Under Socialism 106 

Labor Checks 107 

The Nationalistic Credit System 107 

Greater Purchasing Power Under Socialism . . 109 

Neither Waste nor Misery 110 

IX Life Under Socialism (Concluded) . 112 

The Dependent Classes 112 

Charity Then and Now 113 

Socialism's Motto . 113 

The Racial Inheritance . . . . • 114 

Tramps and Idlers 115 

Tramps not Allowed 115 

The Present Feeling 115 

X Forms of Socialism 118 

Communism 119 

Fabianism 122 

Nationalism 123 

State Socialism 124 

Social Democracy 128 

The Doctrine of Value 131 

The Way it Works 132 

The Reason Why 133 



CONTENTS 11 

An Objection and an Answer 134 

Iron Law of Wages 135 

Business Panics 136 

Christian Socialism 137 

The Golden Rule in Business 138 

XI Socialism Vs. Individualism .... 140 

List of Socialistic Works. 159 

Socialism in General 159 

Christian Socialism 164 

Socialistic Stories 165 



Socialism 



CHAPTEK I 

SOME EXISTING EVILS 

Not many years ago, socialism was looked 
upon by most men as a subject fit only for 
dreamers. But that time has passed. In the 
last few years interest in socialism and its doc- 
trines for the betterment of present conditions 
has rapidly increased, and to-day it holds a large 
place in the minds of many intelligent men and 
women. 

One proof of this is to be found in the fact 
that Eugene Debs, the great labor leader who 

was nominated by the Socialist 

ItS F G avoT ing Labor Party for President in 1904, 
received more votes in Milwaukee 
than did Judge Parker, the choice of the 
Democratic Party for the same office. Chicago 
also largely increased its socialist vote. The 
country also showed a like increase. In 1888 

13 



14 SOCIALISM 

there were 2,068 socialistic votes cast in thirty- 
four States ; in 1904 the socialistic vote of the 
United States reached the half million mark. 

In fact, socialism is on the way. Ideas which 
ten or fifteen years ago were held only by 
socialists form a part of some of the laws of 
to-day. It is therefore not wise to belittle the 
power of socialism, for the cries against it grow 
weaker with the increase in number of the great 
trusts. 

No less a person than President Roosevelt 
seems to believe in some of the socialistic ideas. 

In one of his speeches he has said 

income Tax that a tax should be put upon all 
fortunes beyond a certain amount, 
so that no more than that amount could be 
willed by one person to any one else. It is his 
idea that the richer a man is the higher tax he 
should pay. This is much the same as tax on 
property. The greater the value of a house or 
land the more it is taxed. 

At about the same time that the president 
made this speech, Representative Lloyd of Mis- 
souri said he thought it would be a good idea to 
limit private fortunes to ten million dollars. At 
the present time there is nothing to hinder a rich 



SOCIALISM 15 

man from piling up twenty-five, fifty, or even a 
hundred million dollars if he can do it. 

These are nothing less than socialistic ideas 
put forth by men of means and brains, and were 
so regarded by a large portion of the press and 
public. 

Indeed the Philadelphia " Kecord " said that 

President Koosevelt had given more help to 

- socialism than the socialistic leaders 

Pre^sayB ^ad done in twenty-five years. And 
the Springfield u Republican " de- 
clared that the public mind is rapidly coming to 
favor plans for stopping the piling up of great 
fortunes. 

Several things have contributed to this growth 
of interest in socialism. Among them may be 
mentioned the following: 

Growth of Large Fortunes 

Fifty years ago millionaires in the United 
States were few. In fact, up to 1830 or 1840 
there were no large fortunes in America, and 
little real poverty. To-day there are many 
large fortunes and a greater number of gigantic 
fortunes than in any other country in the world. 
That to sav, North America now has as many 



16 SOCIALISM 

multi-millionaires as the rest of the world put 
together. Seventy American estates alone aver- 
age thirty-five millions each. 

In 1855 the New York " Sun " could find only 
twenty-eight millionaires in New York City ; 
while in 1892 the New York " Tribune " published 
the statement that the number had reached 1,103. 
In the smaller city of Philadelphia alone there 
were then more than 200 men possessing at least 
a million. 

A recent conservative estimate that has been 
approved as reasonable by reliable financial ex- 
perts, shows that at the present time 
wealth con- 5,000 men of this country actually 
Few ec own (without counting what they 

control) nearly one-sixth of our entire 
national wealth — money, land, mines, buildings, 
industries, everything, which if turned into gold 
would give them all the gold in the world and 
leave more than nine thousand million dollars 
still owing them ! 

At first thought, one might be persuaded that 
this increase in the number of millionaires and in 
the size of their fortunes were marks of national 
greatness and prosperity. This would be so if 
the majority of the population had a larger share 



SOCIALISM 1 



fy 



in this wealth than they did in the days of smaller 
fortunes and fewer millionaires. But with this 
increase of wealth has come an increase of pov- 
erty. To-day there are 3,000,000 recognized pau- 
pers in the United States. In New York City 
alone one person in every twelve is buried in the 
potter's field. 

Growth of a Proletariat 

Outside of the pauper class, who from choice 
or necessity depend upon charity, there has grown 

up what is called a proletariat — a 

what it is word which means the lowest labor- 
ing class. The term is now gener- 
ally used to designate a class of wage-earners not 
owning the tools with which they work ; in other 
words, it is the class of people without capital 
which sells its labor for a living. 

Before the use of machinery, the farmer sold 
to the artisan products of his own raising on his 
own soil, and bought from him the products of 
handicraft made by the artisan by the labor of 
his own hands or the work of his own family with 
tools owned by himself from raw material which 
he also owned. Farming was then the great 
American business. Even as late as 1850, farmers 



18 SOCIALISM 

had more than one-half the riches of the coun- 
try. 

The farmer sowed and reaped his own grain 
and ground it into flour at home or at the village 

grist-mill. He raised and packed his 

H °Go e odi ade own beef. He raised his own wool, 
which he then carded, spun, wove, 
and made into clothes for himself and family. 
From his cattle he got hides which he turned into 
leather for his boots and shoes. These were 
made either by himself or a traveling shoemaker. 
His trees supplied him with lumber from which 
he sawed the boards to build his own house, barns 
and outbuildings. At night his house was lighted 
by candles of his own making. In winter it was 
heated from an open fireplace with cord- wood cut 
by himself in his own wood-lot. The butter that 
he used on his bread was made by his good wife 
from the milk of his own cows, as was also the 
cheese which he ate with his doughnuts. And 
he even made most of the simple tools with which 
he worked. 

Thus the farmer was far more independent than 
we are nowadays. He worked for himself and 
made or raised everything he needed. 

But a certain portion of the population either 



SOCIALISM 19 

were already, or soon became, well enough off to 

pay for having things made or done 

Be|inmngs f° r them. Thus there arose a de- 
mand for goods outside of those 
made or raised for personal use. 

Therefore some of the settlers began making 
for others. As their business grew they hired 
persons outside the family to help them in their 
work. Their workers were usually few, and 
some of them often lived in the house of their 
employer as apprentices. They were treated as 
equals, and looked upon the interests of those 
they worked for almost as their own. 

They worked less for board and wages than for 
the chance to become master workmen. 

New things were also coming up every little 
while. Many of the things which have made 

people rich were not even thought 

industries °f * n early times. Instead of kero- 
sene, for instance, the people de- 
pended upon tallow candles for light. When it was 
found that petroleum could be used in lamps to 
make a much better light, men like Eockefeller 
saw their chance to become rich by bringing it be- 
fore the people and supplying the demand for it. 

With the advent of gas another promising 



20 SOCIALISM 

business was started. The same was true of coal. 

The discovery of the power of steam 
The Natural or- an d the invention of labor-saving 

der of Busi- ° 

ness Growth machinery brought about a great 
change. The coming of the railroad 
made it easy for the small manufacturer to 
send his goods to more distant places. To sup- 
ply the increased demands from this wider market 
larger work rooms were needed, and shops and 
mills came into existence. One by one the indus- 
tries were taken from the farm to the factory, 
until to-day the farmer has become little more 
than a tiller of the soil. 

At first the machines in the shops and mills 
were crude and simple. The shops and factories 
were consequently small and located in little vil- 
lages. As the machines became larger and more 
complicated, larger buildings were required to 
contain them and more hands to operate them. 
Boj^s and young men left the farms of their 
fathers and became workmen in the village. This 
brought about a corresponding growth in the vil- 
lage itself ; more accommodations were needed 
for the increased population. First the village 
became a town ; the town became a city ; the 
city became a metropolis. 



SOCIALISM 21 

So, too, the enlarged machines and factories 
required more money to operate them than when 
business was done on a smaller scale. The indi- 
vidual owner therefore formed a partnership 
with others who had money. As time w r ent on 
the partnership became a corporation ; and, 
finally, the corporation entered into an agree- 
ment with other corporations in its same line of 
industry and became a trust. 

The Growth of Self-Interest 

Naturally with these changes the employer 
lost that keen interest in those working for 
him which he had felt when they were only a 
few, toiling side by side with him, often in his 
own home. At first he gave his time wholly to 
the management of the business. As he grew 
richer he hired a manager, and became simply 
the owner of the tools and the shop. 

In order to make his profits as large as possi- 
ble, it was to the interest of the owner to hire 

his workmen as cheaply as he could. 

X?oyefs ad Some treated their help fairly, but 

others looked upon their workmen 

much as they looked upon their machines. That 

is, they tried to get as much work out of them 



22 SOCIALISM 

with as little outlay as possible. The laborer did 
not share in the increase of profits due to grow- 
ing business. In dull times he might be laid off 
until business was better. Thus he was not al- 
ways sure even of a living wage. 

The Division of Labor 

Labor, too, was divided up so that the work 
done by each man was very simple. Instead of 
mastering a whole trade or business as formerly, 
the workers now learned only a part of it. This 
sameness of work tended to make them dull in 
everything but what they had learned how to do, 
and thereby still more lessened their chance of 
being master-workmen and employers. Of 
course, a few of the brighter and more deter- 
mined ones might hope to rise, but even for them 
it became more and more difficult to do so. To- 
day there is a large class of laborers who have no 
interest in the work they do outside of the wages 
they receive, because the conditions under which 
they labor hold out little hope for their rising to 
anything higher. 

Because of its apparently fixed condition be- 
tween the owning, or capitalistic class, and the 
pauper class, this proletariat looks upon the pres- 



SOCIALISM 23 

ent industrial system as an evil, which can only 
be overcome by checking the control of wealth 
by the few and giving to all a more equal divi- 
sion of profits and a more equal chance to rise. 

The Tkust Evil 

A condition of the modern industrial system 
which is widely recognized as an evil is the trust. 
Later on in this work we shall go more into the 
subject of trusts ; but here it is only necessary to 
assert that the complete control of any one line 
of business or manufacture is held to be wrong 
because of the power it gives to a few over wages, 
prices, the cost of living, and its action as a 
hindrance to private enterprise. 

Trusts and Politics 

One complaint often made against trusts is 
that by their control of enormous capital they 

are able to influence the election of 

Bribery men favorable to their interests 

to various political offices. They 

have also been charged with bribing weak-kneed 

lawmakers to defeat legislation unfavorable to 

their own existence or methods. 

The Senate's power has made this important 



24 SOCIALISM 

law-making body a tempting target for vested 

rights and interests. No fair critic 

NotalfSad w ^ S° so ■ far as to say that the 
Senate is all bad, for this would not 
be the truth. It contains to-day, as it always 
has contained, men of honesty and true worth who 
are real representatives of the people ; that it has 
much ability and patriotism may be fairly con- 
ceded. But it is also true that its membership in- 
cludes men whose names need only be mentioned 
to convince one that trust interests are well rep- 
resented there, even if it is untrue to say that 
those interests control that body. 

Socialists, and others besides socialists, say 
that this condition will exist so long as senators 
are not elected directly by the people themselves 
— in other words, so long as they represent States 
instead of population. 

Trusts and the Courts 

It is often said that the courts are kinder to 
rich law-breakers than to those without power- 
ful friends or wealth. To a certain 
judges extent this seems to be true. It is a 
deplorable fact that there are judges 
whose decisions are easily influenced by the posi- 



SOCIALISM 25 

tion and wealth of rich men or corporations 
which have broken the law. Rich men are also 
able to command the very best legal talent, 
which often leaves no stone unturned to defeat 
the ends of justice. Laws are sometimes 
stretched almost to the breaking point to relieve 
rich clients, or those in the employ of trusts, 
from the odium of imprisonment, or to secure for 
them light sentences, as they would not be 
stretched in the case of a poor man. 

One instance of this happened in Chicago a 
few years ago. The working men of that city 

had elected a certain man as alder- 
jtfsSle d man from the fourteenth ward. 

But a street car corporation of that 
city did not like that man, and it bribed two of 
the three election judges of one precinct to 
secretly " correct " the returns so as to give the 
ward to the candidate favored by the company. 
The working men spent fifteen hundred dollars to 
bring these men to their just deserts. The proof 
against them was so strong that they confessed 
their guilt. Notwithstanding this, the presid- 
ing judge acquitted them, stating that their act 
" had apparently not been prompted by criminal 
intent." Comment is unnecessary. 



26 SOCIALISM 

The lengths to which the Standard Oil Com- 
pany has gone in the past to stop others from 
producing oil and selling it, have done much to 
make the people wonder what our business sys- 
tem is coming to. The dishonesty of those at the 
head of the insurance business, as brought out in 
1905-06, and the frequent bank failures through 
the use of the people's money for private gain, 
are also signs of dishonesty among those who 
have come into power. 

The use of injunctions by the capitalists and 
the trusts during strikes, is believed by laboring 

men to be unjust. Injunctions may 

injunctions sometimes be necessary to prevent 
the loss of valuable property or the 
complete destruction of a business, but working- 
men claim that it has often been used to force 
strikers to come to terms. Many people outside 
of the ranks of the wage-earners believe that in- 
junctions have been too freely used in the past, 
and that they are contrary to the spirit of a free 
country. So too, they say, is the use of the 
military to protect the supposed rights of one 
class against the actions of another class, when 
those actions are not dangerous to the public at 
large. 



SOCIALISM 27 

Economic Position of Women 

The fact that so many girls and women now do 
the work formerly done by men is, it is claimed, 

causing a vast amount of harm to the 
Racl% g uiciTe d human race. While doubtless many 

women take up such work from 
choice, there are many more who are forced to 
work because of the present industrial conditions. 
Owing to the greater cost of living, and the 
crowded labor market in great cities, not so 
many men feel like taking upon themselves the 
burden of a family as formerly. This forces 
women who would make good wives if they 
had the chance into offices, shops, and mills. 
Fewer marriages mean fewer births and possibly 
" race suicide," the danger of which has been 
pointed out by President Roosevelt and other 
prominent men. But, says the socialist, Who is 
to blame for the conditions which make fewer 
marriages and compel women to take work 
which should be done by men ? 

Increased Cost of Living 

The Bureau of Commerce and Labor figures 
out that the dollar of 1906 is a seventv-five-cent 
dollar, compared with the dollar of 1897. That 



28 SOCIALISM 

is, the average price of things is higher now 

than during any other year covered 
So statiltiGs ing by definite figures. Farm products 
are 58.6 per cent, higher than in 
1896, and food is 29.7 per cent, higher. Clothing 
costs 22.9 per cent, more than 1897, and fuel and 
lighting 39.4 per cent, higher than in 1894. 
Metals, tools, and building materials show an in- 
crease of more than forty-one per cent. ; and other 
commodities which enter into the daily life of the 
people show a like advance over the prices of ten 
or twelve years ago. So persons whose wages or 
incomes have remained the same during that time 
are really poorer, because the purchasing power 
of the dollar is less. 

Evils of Child Labor 

Another crying evil of the times is child labor. 
Many States have no laws to protect the children 
of the poor, and it is said that a million and a 
half between the ages of ten and fifteen are em- 
ployed in mines and factories throughout the 
country. Children even younger are also obliged 
to work. In another place this subject is more 
fully gone into. In fairness, it should be added 
that many thinking men and women are waking 



SOCIALISM 29 

up to the injustice done such children, and in 
various ways are trying to get legislation passed 
in their behalf. So long, however, as there are 
families so poor that all must work or starve, and 
employers so hard-hearted that they will hire 
children of tender age because they will, or must, 
work cheaper than adults, so long will there be 
found ways of getting around whatever laws 
may be passed to prevent this crime to childhood. 



These are some of the wrongs that at present 
force themselves upon the attention of intelligent 
people. Many of these people are doing some- 
thing besides merely thinking ; they are asking 
themselves if a cure cannot be found for them. 
Some there are who believe that if left alone 
things will work out for the best even under the 
present industrial system. Others believe that 
only a complete change will make everything 
right. Among these will be found the socialists, 
who believe that the best remedy is to be found 
in placing the control of all business and of all 
government directly in the hands of the people. 
We shall not attempt to say whether they are 
right or wrong, but in the following pages will 



30 SOCIALISM 

try to give a clear idea of what socialism is, and 
how it would change present conditions if once 
adopted. But first, we will give a summary of 
the socialistic programme as it has been worked 
out in the minds of the leaders of this movement. 



CHAPTER II 

THE SOCIALISTIC PROGRAMME 

We have now reached the point where it is 
well to consider the means by which the socialist 
purposes to cure the evils resulting from our 
present industrial system. First and foremost 
he looks to a 

Uisrioisr of Workers 

Not only the workers of this nation, but of all 
nations, in the socialistic movement. Only by 
such union does he think that full success can be 
gained. In support of this idea, it is pointed out 
that the interests of the world's workers are sep- 
arated by no national boundaries. The condition 
of the lowest and most ill-used workers in the 
most distant countries, socialists say, must tend, 
sooner or later, to drag down all the workers of 
the world to the same level. Therefore, the 
socialistic movement is a world movement. It 
knows of no conflict of interest between the 
workers of one nation and the workers of an- 
other. It stands for the freedom of the workers 

31 



32 SOCIALISM 

of all nations ; and, in so standing, it declares 
that it makes for the full freedom of all hu- 
manity. Once this union is brought about, the 
socialists expect to labor together for the found- 
ing of 

The Cooperative Commonwealth 

by seizing every possible advantage that may 
strengthen them to get complete control of the 
powers of government. 

Socialism holds that the present industrial sys- 
tem is directly contrary to the democratic system 
of politics in this country. As the founders of 
the Republic believed that the government should 
be controlled by the whole people, so socialists 
believe that all the means of production should 
likewise belong to the people in common — such 
as the land, the tools, the machinery, etc. 

In the cooperative commonwealth, the people 
as a whole, and not merely the few as at present, 
would own and control the railways, the tools 
and machinery, the mines, the land, and the raw 
material. 

Under the present system, it is claimed that 
men are divided into two great classes. One of 
these, made up of wage-earners, can live only by 



SOCIALISM 33 

their work. la order to work thev need tools 
and machinery, which they have not got. But 
these the capitalist does have. That is, he owns 
the land, the factories, the machinery, and the 
raw materials from which goods are made, and 
most of the money. 

Under socialism all this is to be changed. 
When all have an equal interest in the tools 
and machinery, the land and the raw material, 
there can be no wage-earning system as at present, 
and no class-feeling. 

Socialists, however, do not expect to bring all 
this about until they are strong enough to elect 
a socialist President, socialist governors, and a 
majority of socialist senators and representatives. 
In the meantime, as steps toward the desired end, 
they pledge themselves to support all legislation 
which will result in the following : 

List of Eeforms 

1. Shortened days of labor and increase of 
wages. 

2. For insuring all workers against accidents, 
sickness, and lack of employment. 

3. For pensions for aged and exhausted 
workers. 



34 SOCIALISM 

4. For the public ownership of the means of 
transportation (railways, steamships, etc.), com- 
munication (telegraph and telephone), and ex- 
change. 

5. For a tax on incomes and inherited for- 
tunes, public rights and land values, the money 
so raised to be used for bettering the condition 
of the workers' children and keeping them from 
the workshop during the school age. 

6. For giving the voting power to all adults 
regardless of sex, creed or color. 

7. For preventing the use of military force 
against labor in the settlement of strikes. 

8. For the free administration of justice, and 
free legal assistance. Judges to be elected by 
the people. 

9. For the right of people to propose laws 
(the initiative as it is called) and to vote upon all 
measures of importance (the referendum). Under 
this system, any law passed may be vetoed by the 
people, and any law may be proposed which a 
small part of the population desires enacted. 

10. For the election of senators by the people 
direct and according to population, instead of a 
fixed number from each State (two), who are 
elected by the legislature, as at present. Also, 



SOCIALISM 35 

for the right to recall all officers of the govern- 
ment by those who elect them. 

And, finally, for everything which will tend to 
improve the lot of the workers, and for whatever 
will lessen the industrial and political power of 
the capitalists, and increase the like powers of the 
working man, such as a working day of not more 
than eight hours ; equal pay for equal service, for 
men and women ; the doing away of the contract 
system in public works ; the issue of all money by 
the government instead of through national 
banks ; the abolition of a standing army and the 
formation of a national citizens' militia : the peo- 
ple to decide on peace or war ; for the construc- 
tion of light, clean and well- ventilated houses 
for the people, such dwellings to be let at rents 
which will cover the cost of construction and 
maintenance alone ; and for free education in 
college or university for those who are fitted for 
such education, as well as in the elementary 
schools. 

From all this, it will be seen that the socialistic 
programme is very complete. It will be noted, 
too, that much in accord with it has already been 
accomplished. Take, for instance, the first of the 
numbered items. 



36 SOCIALISM 

Peactical Eesults 
Within the meinoiy of men who are living to- 
day, a working day of from twelve to sixteen 

hours was once not uncommon. 
worung'Say Under these conditions the working 

man was more of a slave to labor 
than he is at present, and had much less time for 
self-improvement or pleasure. Nowadays most 
States have an eight-hour law for all mechanical 
trades, and in union shops and factories over- 
time work is paid for at the union over- time rate. 
Who can doubt that this is a change for the bet- 
ter ? While the increase in wages has not kept 
pace with the decrease in the number of working 
hours, union rates are generally better than the 
wages paid twenty-five years ago. But, although 
this is true, the cost of the necessities of life, as 
we have seen, is also higher, which offsets the in- 
crease in wages. It cannot be denied that the 
passing of eight-hour laws has been brought about 
by the demands of labor working together either 
as union men or as socialists. 

Not so much has been accomplished toward 
insuring all workers against accidents and sick- 
ness, but some progress has been made toward the 
desired end. Many shops and factories have mu- 



SOCIALISM 37 

tual-aid funds, from which money may be drawn 

to tide employees over periods of 
Mu Fund^ id sickness or disability from other 
causes, when they are unable to work. 
Some of the funds also provide burial expenses for 
deceased members. Most of such funds, however, 
have been organized by the working men them- 
selves, each member giving a small sum weekly 
toward its increase and maintenance. Liberal 
employers also often donate to it considerable 
sums annuallv. 

The Boston & Maine Railroad employees have 
a mutual aid fund of this kind, and the manage- 
ment of the road itself has under consideration a 
pension system by which each man in its employ 
shall give a small portion of his weekly or 
monthly wage for the upbuilding of a fund to 
support retired members after they have been em- 
ployed by the company for a certain number of 
years. 

In the early summer of 1906 the National 
Tobacco Company organized an insurance plan 

for its employees, wholly on its own 
A ances t y I s I tlm" account. By this plan the entire ex- 
pense of the insurance is carried by 
the company itself, and it costs the employees 



38 SOCIALISM 

nothing. The amount of the insurance, however, 
is small ($400) payable on the death of the em- 
ployee to those he leaves behind him. But when 
the vast number of those employed by the tobacco 
trust is taken into account, it will be seen that the 
total expense will be considerable. The fact that 
the company was willing, on its own volition, to 
take this step at all is an encouraging sign of the 
effect which the constant efforts of the socialists 
for the better treatment of labor has had upon 
the public mind. 

But, say the socialists, these are only individual 
cases. What is needed is the passing of a gov- 
ernment measure for the payment of old-age pen- 
sions from the National Treasury. " It is," de- 
clares "The Vanguard," "a deep disgrace to 
America that here we have no legislation of the 
kind. Except by the Social Democrats, the 
question of old-age pensions is not discussed in 
this country. Yet there is no country on the face 
of the globe where they are such a crying neces- 
sity, as in this land of high pressure and early 
breakdowns. Year by year, as life becomes more 
strenuous and the pace of industry moves faster 
and faster, younger men are needed. The mid- 
dle-aged can with difficulty keep up the speed. 



SOCIALISM 39 

Old men are entirely out of the race. As condi- 
tions are changing in this country, it is becoming 
impossible for working men to lay up their earn- 
ings for their last days. . . . The American 
people have been exceedingly liberal in their pen- 
sions for old soldiers. Why should they not do 
as much for the old veterans of labor ?. The men 
who, by patient toil with hand and brain, through 
a long lifetime, have built up the country deserve 
at least an equal reward with the heroes of the 
battle-field." 

Insurance against lack of employment has not 
yet been brought about ; under the present busi- 
ness system it is difficult to see how it ever can 
be. This fact, says the socialist, is one reason 
for wishing to change the system. 

Little has yet been done in this country toward 
public ownership of railways, steamships, tele- 
graph and telephone lines, etc. In 
owIer e sifip b id C ea some cities attempts have been made 

to own and operate lighting and 
other public service plants, but these have not 
generally been successful. It will not do, how- 
ever, to argue from this that the idea is wrong, 
for the socialists point out that municipal owner- 
ship here has been tried only under a system in 



40 SOCIALISM 

which graft and money-making seems to be the 
chief end of many public officials. With a form 
of government in which the piling up of fortunes 
would not be possible, and under which every man 
would feel that in working for the good of all he 
was best working for himself, the result might 
well be different. 

An example of a successful — in the sense of 
giving the best public service at a minimum cost 
regardless of large financial returns — socialistic 
institution is the post office of the United States. 
Owned by the people as a whole, all share in 
many ways the advantages of this common 
ownership. In most countries the telegraph is 
also owned by the people. Forests are to a con- 
siderable extent so owned, and in some countries 
railroads are also controlled by the govern- 
ment. It is only necessary to continue the 
process by which these have been made public 
property, and apply it to everything, to bring 
about the conditions for which the socialists are 
striving. 

New York State already has an inheritance 
tax, by which a certain portion of inherited 
fortunes is turned into the State Treasury. 
Massachusetts and other States have similar, 



SOCIALISM 41 

though perhaps less effective taxes, and no doubt 

all will gradually fall into line. 

In Tlxes nce I'hese are all of a socialistic nature, 
and socialists therefore regard them 
as steps in the right direction. 

But in the way of their political demands, 
given in the rest of the numbered items, little 
headway has been made. Not until these de- 
mands are favorably acted upon by a majority 
of the lawmakers will socialistic government be 
an actual fact. Hence the socialist's call to all 
working men to unite under his banner, so that 
bv force of numbers those who believe in the 
justice of his case may be elected to public 
offices. 



CHAPTER III 

THE LIFE OF A WORKING MAN 

In order to understand why the socialists say 
that a change in social conditions is really 
needed, let us tell the life story of a laborer 
under the present system, and, later, describe the 
advantages to be obtained under the best social- 
istic government. 

While of course, it is doubtful if any one man 
would have quite the experience that is related 
here, it would not be impossible as business is 
now carried on for one to have it. All the facts 
and figures regarding the treatment of children 
in the great factories, and the troubles of labor 
in its struggle to find work, have been taken 
from accounts of those who have made a special 
study of the subject. 

Suppose we give the person whose life story 
we are to tell, the plain, honest name of John 
Green. 

Green was born, we will say, in a little New 
England village. He started life as the son of a 

42 



SOCIALISM 43 

carpenter, who usually had work enough to keep 
his family from actual want, even if there was 
not much left over. 

For the first few years of his life Johnny was 
happy. There were a number of children of his 

own age to play with. Some of 
De chiidren 0f these were sons and daughters of 
rich parents and some, like himself, 
were children of tradesmen who found it hard at 
times to make both ends meet. But that fact 
made no difference to Johnny nor to the others 
at that age. 

To be sure, some of his playmates had better 
clothes than he had, a greater number of toys, 
and other things dear to children's hearts, but 
our young hero did not care much about that, 
except now and then when he wanted something 
that some of the rest possessed and was told at 
home that he could not have it. 

But, as he grew older, he began to think that 
things were not divided up as they should be. 
" Billy " Jones, for instance, had a nice, brightly 
painted " express-wagon," while he had to get 
along with one which his father made for him. 
To be sure, it was a good one, but still it was not 
like Billy Jones's, and it had not been bought at 



44 SOCIALISM 

the store. Billy also had two new suits of clothes 
a year, while Johnny thought himself lucky if he 
got a new suit in two years. More often the 
clothes he wore were made over from those 
which had been cast off by his father. 

Few of us do believe that the good things of 
life are divided equally. The earth itself is boun- 
tiful. It is covered with green grass 
Products an d shrubs and pretty flow T ers to 
please the eye, and with trees and 
plants that bring forth fruit and vegetables for 
the food of all. On the hills and mountains and 
in the woods, and in the mines under the earth 
are to be found wood and coal enough to supply 
the human race with heat to cook its food and to 
keep it warm when warmth is needed. So, too, 
the mines yield the metal from which are made 
money, tools and machinery. 

But in spite of this we do not all have an equal 
share, and some have hardly any share at all. In 
fact, the very poor think themselves lucky if they 
can get enough of anything to keep body and 
soul together, as the saying is. To some extent 
this has always been so. History shows that in 
every age there have been those who were better 
off than others. In early times men laid the dif- 



SOCIALISM 45 

ference to the will of God. Those who had 
everything looked down upon those who had 
nothing as made of common clay, who could never 
expect to be anything better because God had 
made them so. 

The Feeling in America 

But while this was so in the old countries across 
the ocean, this idea found little foothold here 
in America. When this government was first 
formed, it was declared that all men were created 
free and equal. To be sure, all men did not have 
the same amount of money or property; and 
there were even some among the early people of 
this country who looked down upon others, just 
as.there are some to-day who scorn those who are 
not so well off as they are. 

The Class Feeling 

As Johnny grew older he began to notice that 
his playmates who had rich parents did not seem 
to care so much about playing with him. Indeed 
they began to put on airs and slight him because 
he was the son of a poor man. When they had 
parties, Johnny and other children in no better 
circumstances were not invited. Johnny was of 



46 SOCIALISM 

a sensitive nature and these things made him sad 
or angry as his mood might be at the time. 

" Why is it," he asked his father one day, " that 
Billy Jones's folks have everything and we have 

nothing?" 

a Question " Simply because Billy Jones's folks 
are rich and we are poor," was the 
answer. 

"But why aren't we rich, too?" asked the 
boy. 

" Well, for one reason because mv father did 
not leave me money as some do, and for another 
because I suppose I am too honest," was the bit- 
ter reply. " Billy Jones's father got his money 
in ways that I should not want to follow. He 
kept a store and gave short weight, put fine, 
white sand in his sugar to increase its bulk, and 
did other things that no really honest man would 
do, but which many business men have winked 
at/. 

" During war time, when everything was high, 
I bought of Jones several yards of calico to make 

your mother a dress, paying him 

in Got Riches thirty cents a yard for it. After I 

had paid him he boasted to me that 

the cloth was from a big stock of calico that he 



SOCIALISM 47 

got in before the war, for which he paid only six 
cents a yard. 1 He was the only one in town who 
had calico on hand, and other things which the 
people could get only at several times the original 
cost to him. He called this business enterprise ; 
I call it cheating. It was in such ways that lie 
and others like him grew rich. Not content with 
a fair profit, they took advantage of every chance 
to squeeze the people who must go to them for 
what they wanted, or go without." 

" Have all rich men got their money that way, 
father?" asked Johnny. 

14 Oh, no, there are some who are honest, but 
shrewd and saving, and quicker than other men 

to see ways in which to make money 
The Honest Rich grow, while still giving others a fair 

and honest return, and acting on the 
plan of ' Live and let live.' These are looked up 
to and respected by those around them. It is 
true, too, that some fortunes of very moderate 
proportions are the result of two or three genera- 
tions of successful but fair business methods." 

Soon after this conversation, Johnny's father 
was taken ill and for a long time was unable to 

1 A fact in the experience of a relative of the author. 



48 SOCIALISM 

work at all. What with doctor's bills and ordi- 
nary expenses his little savings soon melted 
away, and the family were reduced to hard 
straits. 

During a period when things were at their 
worst with them, Johnny's aunt, who lived in a 
large town in Maine near the sea, wrote that, 
while she was too poor to aid them herself, she 
thought she could get Johnny a job in a can- 
ning factory in her neighborhood, where chil- 
dren worked in large numbers. The wages 
would be small, but they might help to keep 
the family going until the father was able to 
work again. 

The Evils of Child Labor 

So Johnny was sent on to Maine to become a 
worker in a cannery. He was then ten years old, 

but young as he was he found him- 
The cannery self working beside children half his 
age. During the rush seasons they 
were kept at work from daylight to dark, while a 
man stood by to beat them if they lagged. Under 
this treatment many of the children seemed less 
like boys and girls than little old men and women 
who had lost all idea of playtimes and school-days, 



SOCIALISM 49 

and grew paler and thinner each week. Seem- 
ingly without pity, the owners of the cannery 
treated them like machines, and the laws of the 
State allowed them to do so. 

From a usually bright and happy boy, Johnny 
became moody and silent, going about his work 
as stolidly as a badly used beast of burden. 
Neither his mother nor his father dreamed of 
what he was going through, and from having 
known of such things all her life his aunt looked 
upon the labor and hardships of children as a 
matter of course. 

Johnny was the son of a poor man and must 
work like all poor boys. What mattered it if he 

and others like him no longer knew 
The wo°rk Must anything about the joys of child- 
hood ? People must live even if 
they have to put their children at work almost as 
soon as they are out of the cradle. 

If they do not work the poorest of them either 
starve to death, roam the street at will, or go to 
school hungry, as sixty to seventj^ thousand of 
them do in New York City alone, unable to study 
because of the feeling of hunger. 

Working a large part of the time from daylight 
to dark, Johnny grew old beyond his years, and 



50 SOCIALISM 

it was not long before he began to ask those 
about him if boys and girls were as badly treated 
elsewhere. At last he found some one who 

could answer his question. From 
Babes at work him he learned that in the New 

York canning factories mere babies 
are employed ; that in one canning factory of 
that State a child of four earned nineteen cents 
a day stringing beans ; and that in another, chil- 
dren of six and seven were to be found working 
at two o'clock in the morning. 

He was told, too, that in the cotton mills of the 
South more than sixty thousand children under 

fourteen, hundreds being as young 
So ton M?iis 0t " as seven or eight, are kept at work 

for long hours. 
In answer to a question asked her by a kind- 
hearted lady (Miss Jane Addams, the noted social 

settlement worker of Chicago), one 
A L Ans e wer rls little girl in a cotton mill in Augusta, 

Ga., too young to talk plainly, said : 
" When I work nights I'se too tired to undress 
when I gits home, and so I goes to bed wif me 
clo'es on." 

One of the older boys where Johnny worked 



SOCIALISM 51 

told him that he had a cousin who had gone blind 

while working at the glass trade, 
The Glass Trade which can use boys instead of men 

for much of the work, and at a third 
of the price. Others in this trade also become 
blind or have their sight impaired forever. 

He learned, too, that the mines employ thou- 
sands of young boys, from eight to fourteen years 

of age, who work twelve hours for 
other Trades sixty cents a day ; while the cigar 

factories also use thousands of young 
children. 1 

All these things made a strong impression on 
Johnny's mind, and he still thought of them long 
after he had left the canning factory. 

1 These facts are all given in John Spargo's book, " The Bitter 
Cry of the Children,' ' published in the early part of 1906. 



CHAPTER IV 
the life OF A working man {Continued) 

Between twelve and fifteen Johnny had a 
better time of it. His father, who had removed 
to a city, was at work again, and the boy lived at 
home and went to school. He had been out of 
school so long that he was backward in his 
studies, and for that reason was put into a class 
of children much younger than himself. This 
did not make his lot any easier, for his school- 
mates of his own age made fun of him until he 
showed a mind to stop their taunts with his fists, 
when he got to be known as a bad boy. 

But there was good stuff in Johnny and he 
tried hard to learn, for he had made up his mind 
that he must fight his way through the world, 
and that the more he knew the better he could 
wage the battle. With all its drawbacks, too, 
his life at school was far easier and happier than 
that in the canning factory, at which he always 
looked back with a shudder. 

He had just passed his fifteenth birthday when 
his father died, and Johnny bade good-bye to 
school-days forever. He must now work to sup- 

52 



SOCIALISM 53 

port his mother, and he started out to find a job. 
From store to store he went, from shop to shop 
and mill to mill, but no one wanted him. No 
one ! Well, not quite. After three days he 
found some one who did want him. 

There was a big express strike on in the city. 
The drivers of the express wagons had asked for 
higher wages, and had been refused. So they 
struck. They were in a fair way to win when 
the express companies began to hire strike-break- 
ers. Johnny was one of these. He was tall for 
his age, and the companies were in such straits 
that they eagerly snapped up any one who was 
willing to take out a wagon. 

Because nearly all trades are now crowded, 
there has grown up a large class who have work 

only part of the time. Many of 
The idle class these, finding that they can live by 
begging have become tramps who 
seek the city in winter and go abroad through the 
country in spring and summer. A large number 
of these would not work if they could, but there 
are also among them many who remain tramps 
only because they cannot get work. 

These are ready to take any job that offers. 
Knowing this, the employer feels still more free 



54 SOCIALISM 

to do as he likes with his laborers. If they do 
not like it he can easily find others to take their 
places. Instead of using part of his profits to 
better the lives of those who have helped him to 
become rich, he spends his money on himself for 
things that he does not really need or saves it for 
his own use in the future. 

Men who have studied the subject say that, un- 
der present conditions, these idlers are necessary ; 
for, if all of them looked for work honest laborers 
would have a far harder task finding something 
respectable to do. 

At the same time this large idle class is one of 
the greatest evils with which the laborer has to 

contend, because those in it who will. 
a Great Evil work stand ready to take his place 
when the workman tries to get higher 
wages or better treatment. 

This was shown in San Francisco a few years 
ago. During a big strike there a large number of 
unemployed men fought for a chance to take the 
places left by the strikers. Men were killed, 
hundreds of heads were broken by the police and 
thousands were hurt, and still others came for- 
ward to do the work. If there were no idle 
workers ill-used employees would be in a better 



SOCIALISM 55 

position to enforce their demands, and grasping 
employers would, from necessity, feel more in- 
clined to listen to them. 

The strike had been on a week when Johnnv 
was sent out one morning with a lot of others, 

boys and men, to try to get some 

T Brefker ke goods through the city. Hardly 
knowing what he was doing, Johnny 
started with a full wagon ; but before he had 
proceeded far he was surrounded by an angry 
crowd of the strikers who held up his horses and 
dragged him from the seat. " You would take the 
bread out of our mouths, would you ? " shouted 
a burly man, raising his arm to strike the boy. 

Another man stepped in the way and grabbed 
the hand, just in time to stop the blow. " Oh, 
come now, Jack," he said, " can't you see he's 
nothing but a kid ? I'll bet he didn't mean to do 
us any harm, did you, boy ? " 

Johnny shook his head. 

" Well, remember this," said the man, " when 
you step into any one's job against his will, strike 

or no strike, you may be taking 
a Truth away the bread from his mouth and 
the mouths of those who depend 
upon him for support." 



56 SOCIALISM 

"But if I don't take the work that is offered,' 5 
answered Johnny, " I may starve myself — myself 
and my mother." 

"Aye, that's just the trouble. No man is a 
strike breaker because he wants to be, no more 
than he is a striker if he is treated right. It is 
the system that is to blame for both. Now get 
along and good luck to you ! " 

You may be sure that Johnny lost no time in 
following this advice, and from that moment he 
made up his mind never to be a strike-breaker 
again. He had no wish to take the place of 
others who needed work as much as himself. 

Soon after this he got work in the cloth room 
of a cotton factory. Here he w T as paid five dol- 
lars a week, which was little enough to keep him 
and his mother alive, but was better than nothing. 

His working hours were from half-past six in 
the morning until half-past six at night, with 

three-quarters of an hour at noon. 

'worker ^ n *his m ^ eVen g rown men an ^ 

women tended six and seven looms 
for seven dollars and a half or eight dollars 
a week, and hundreds of boys of his own age, and 
even } r ounger, were employed. 

How Johnny grew to hate the sight and sound 



SOCIALISM 57 

of that big mill, with its clanging machinery, its 
smell of oil, and its bell which called him to 
work, on winter mornings, through snowy, wind- 
blown streets before daylight, and only let him 
out for the day when it was dark again ! But 
his mother depended upon him, and in summer 
things were pleasanter. 

But before the summer months had passed, the 
mill shut down. Some one, somewhere, had seen 

fit to buy up all the cotton in sight 
tk couon an d hold it until he could sell it for 

a much higher price than it was 
bringing at first. Of course as it grew scarce the 
price of it slowly rose. At last it became so high 
that the owners of the mill could not make cotton 
cloth at a good profit without raising their own 
prices for the goods. They did so, but the de- 
mand for their cloth fell off, and finding that 
there was little money in keeping the mill going 
they shut down until such time as cotton became 
plenty and cheap again. Johnny was out of 
work again. 

But before long he found something to do. 
He was now too old to learn a trade and at the 
same time support his mother, even if he had 
wanted to do so. But he did not want to. Men 



58 SOCIALISM 

who had learned trades did not seem to be much 
better off than himself. 

Under the old system of doing work by hand, 
the workman was known as an artisan — that is, a 
man who knew his trade from "A" to "Z." 
The carpenter, for instance, was an artist in 
wood — a skilled wood-worker. The blacksmith 
was an artist in iron. The shoemaker w r as an artist 
in leather. Under the present system of produc- 
tion or manufacture, the artisan in mos.t cases has 
become merely a machine tender. He feeds the 
machine and the machine does the work. So the 
machine has become the real artisan. 

By the aid of the machine the man is able to 
do far more work in the same time than he could 

do formerly, but the share coming 

Machfne *° ^ m f° r ^at wor k is less than it 
was when there was no machinery. 
While more than half of the population of this 
country is made up of the working class, only 
ten out of every hundred of this class own a 
house, and only a very small number have any 
of the wealth which they have helped to make. 
They have nothing but their labor power to sell, 
and they must sell it for what it will bring or 
starve. Owing to the large number of those 



SOCIALISM 59 

always out of work, the worker must sell his 
labor on an overstocked market. 

So Green decided that there was no hope for 
him in that direction. Naturally healthy and 
strong and bothered neither by aches nor pains 
he was usually able to get something to do to 
keep his mother and himself from actual want, 
and in a way he began to take an interest in the 
world. He was now at a period when life itself 
seemed good, no matter how it was lived, and he 
felt able to hold his own with any one. This 
was natural. To fight like a man and do a 
man's work (even for a boy's pay) were things 
that gripped hold of him as nothing else could. 
He never doubted that he would continue to play 
the man's game with unfailing health, without 
accidents, and with muscles ever strong. 1 

As for the sick and the ailing, the old and the 
crippled, he hardly thought of them at all. 
Sometimes he did indeed feel a vague pity for 
them, but that was all. Eegarding their help- 
lessness and misery he rarely, if ever, felt any 
concern. His chief interest was with John 
Green, and so long as he had work, no matter 

Adapted from Jack London's relation, "How I Became a 
Socialist." 



60 SOCIALISM 

how hard or ill-paid, he was as happy as a beast 
of burden which thinks itself well rewarded for 
all the toil of the day if only it is well fed and 
housed at night. 

Then his mother died, and he was left alone. 
Thrown more among the people in the cheap 

boarding-houses in which he lived 
woes of Labor thereafter, he began at last to un- 
derstand the real woes of the la- 
borer. He found that it was not true, as he had 
hitherto believed, that no man need be without 
work if he really wants it. That may have been 
so once, but it is not so now. To-day there is 
less chance for the poor man than in the earlier 
years of this country's development, although 
this fact is denied by rich men, who are fond of 
saying that opportunities for young men are 
more abundant now than ever before. For men 

of education, and those who already 
PoorMenNow have some means, this may, to some 
extent, be true ; but not for men 
whose education is limited and who have nothing 
to begin with. More money is required to start 
any kind of business than was needed when this 
country was young. There were fewer people 
in the States then. Villages and cities w T ere 



SOCIALISM 61 

small, but they were growing all the time. 
Every trade and profession was not crowded as 
it is at present. So there was room for a new 
man even if he did start in a small way, and 
most of the great businesses of to-day grew from 
small beginnings. 

Among the people with whom Green became 
acquainted he found men of all grades and 
abilities. Some had been through both school 
and college ; they were in every way smart and 
bright, but were forced to do work that gave 
them only a bare living because every industry 
seemed overcrowded. Men who had studied 
long and hard to become doctors or lawyers were 
to be found running trolley-cars or acting as 
clerks, because they could not get enough practice 
as doctors and lawyers to pay the cost of rent, 
food and clothing. He found men who had been 
owners of retail stores until their business 
had been ruined by the big department stores. 
These, because of their bigness, can buy goods in 
large lots (and thus buy cheaper) and so sell 
them at a low 7 er figure than the owner of the 
small store can at a profit. The great mass of 
buyers trade where the prices are lowest,, and the 
smaller dealers go out of business. 



62 SOCIALISM 

The Eise of Trusts 

Green also learned that still another thing 
working against the laborer is the trust. Trusts 
have been a natural growth from the smaller 
"combinations" and agreements affecting a few 
firms only. These were made as a measure of 
economy in buying materials, in paying salaries, to 
lessen competition, and to some extent, no doubt, 
to check the growing power of the labor unions. 
This has gone on until almost every great in- 
dustry is controlled by a few men. Having a 
common understanding as to prices and trade 
plans they are able to stop others outside the 
trusts from making and selling goods in the same 
line without their consent, and some trusts have 
not scrupled to do so by fair means or foul. 

Many working people feel that such trusts 
have worked to take away the control of trade 
from the people, or the many, and keep it in the 
hands of the rich, or the favored few. Not con- 
tent with fair profits, these trusts, so we are told, 
have increased their wealth by dishonest means. 
It should not be inferred from this, however, 
that all millionaires have obtained their wealth 
through trusts or by dishonest methods, as this 
would not be true. Nor are all trusts ungener- 



SOCIALISM 63 

ous. Some of them carry on their business in 
mutual cooperation with their employees, with 
whom they make annual agreements regarding 
the wage scale, and hours of work, and for whom 
they have a regular system of promotion. 

The tendency to form combinations in different 
lines of business has resulted in the tobacco trust, 
the steel trust, the sugar trust, the oil trust, and 
meat and many other trusts. One firm alone has 
one hundred and fifty grocery stores ; the United 
Cigar Company has one hundred and ten stores 
in New York City alone and hundreds of others 
scattered throughout the country. The Atlantic 
& Pacific Tea Company's grocery stores, and the 
Dennett and the Childs' restaurants are other ex- 
amples of ownership of retail business on a large 
scale. 

As Green and his companions were thrown to- 
gether in large shops and mills, they talked over 

their wrongs and sufferings with 
Labor unions each other, and began to seek a 
remedy. Feeling that something 
must be done to limit the power and independ- 
ence of their employers they joined the labor 
unions. Acting as a body they were in a better 
position to enforce their demands for higher 



64 SOCIALISM 

wages and shorter hours than they were when 
acting singly. 

Working Girls and Women 

Green found, too, that in offices and stores 
girls and women were taking the places that had 
been filled by men. Why ? Simply because 
girls and women would work cheaper. He did 
not blame the girls or women, for of course they 
would be glad to get as high wages as the men 
they displaced. In many cases they had to work 
or starve, and the employers would not pay them 
more. They worked because they had to or be- 
cause they needed money which the family at 
home could not give them. And because they 
lived at home or because the price of their board 
and lodgings was cheaper, they were supposed to 
be able to live upon less than men. So the em- 
ployer with his greed for greater profits hired 
them in place of men to whom he would have to 
pay better wages. 

Of course this is not always so. Girls and 
women can do certain lines of work as w r ell, if 
not better, than men and so they are often hired 
because of this fact and paid as good wages as 
men would get for the same work. Where there 



SOCIALISM 65 

is one case of this kind, however, there are per- 
haps ten of the other. 

Green saw also that because most laboring 
men are no longer sure of anything more than a 

bare living they do not marry in 

^arrfales 11 su °h larg© numbers as they did when 
life seemed easier and conditions 
were better. This accounts, too, for the large 
number of young women who look for work. 
Finding themselves unmarried because men who 
would be glad to marry if they were always sure 
of being able to keep a family from want do not 
ask them, they must support themselves when 
they become of age or become a burden to the 
family at home. 

So it works out this way : The laboring man 
is often afraid to take upon himself the support 
of another, and the girl he would marry if he felt 
able must shift for herself. The employer offers 
her less because he knows she can live upon less, 
and the man she displaces must look elsewhere 
for work. Sometimes he finds it at as good pay 
as he had before ; sometimes he doesn't. When 
this happens he must take what he can get, or 
join those who are employed only part of the 
time, or become a tramp. 



66 SOCIALISM 

Just to study the thing out, Green, now a man 
grown, went tramping one summer. 

Stealing rides on bumpers or in freight cars he 
fought his way from the crowded labor centres 
of the East where men hunt jobs for all they are 
worth, to the seacoast cities of the West where 
men fight for a chance job on the wharves. 

Among this tramp class he found men just as 
good as himself and often better. Among these 
were men who had been soldiers, sailors, men 
who had trades and men who had never learned 
any trade, men who had been used up by hard 
work, men who had been crippled and twisted 
out of shape by toil, hardship and accident and 
then cast adrift like so many old horses. As he 
begged with them, traveled with them, shivered 
with them in box-cars and city parks, and listened 
to them, his brain began to work. The women 
of the streets and the men of the gutter seemed 
very close to him and a terror seized him, 
"What," he asked himself, "what will become 
of me when my strength fails through hard work 
or old age ? What, when I am no longer able to 
work shoulder to shoulder with the strong men 
who are yet babes unborn ? " What but the 
poorhouse and the pauper's grave 1 



SOCIALISM 67 

Labor no longer seemed a game for men to 
play. Rather it seemed like a great giant ever 
pushing him and grinding him down, giving him a 
poor living while he was well and strong, and 
little more. He told himself that there was 
something wrong in the present business system 
which gives much to a few and little to the man} 7 . 
But what could be done to mend matters ? At 
that time Green did not know. 

But because he did not like tramping and was 
too proud to beg all his life, he went back to 
work. He found a job that promised to be steady 
and that paid him better than anything he had 
ever had before. He stuck to it and saved a little. 
And then he did a foolish thing for a day laborer 
with only small means. He got married. 

Since then the-struggle has been harder. With 
a growing family and more mouths to feed — for 

the poor man who can't afford it 
of h the B s"u r ggie S usually has several children, while 
the rich man who can afford it has 
few if any — what money he gets does not go as 
far as it once did. Nor does it buy so much, be- 
cause nearly everything is higher than it was ten 
years ago. Rent in the cities is higher, the cost 
of oil, meat, clothing, and other necessities of life, 



68 SOCIALISM 

is higher, and wages have not kept pace with the 
greater cost of living. 

So Green is more than ever sure that some- 
thing is wrong. Lately he has been trying 
to find out if there is not some cure for the 
system which bids fair to keep him, and 
others like him, under its heel until he is too 
old to work longer. For all he can see when 
that time comes he can hope for nothing except 
the poorhouse or the grudging charity of friends 
or relatives. With this idea he took up the study 
of socialism. Up to that time his attitude toward 
the subject had been that of the man in the fol- 
lowing story. 



CHAPTER V 

SOME WRONG IDEAS OF SOCIALISM 

Some one has related that an Irishman was 
talking one day with a friend about the merits 
of socialism. "Well," said his companion after 
listening to him for a while in silence, " what is 
this socialism, ony way, that ye b'lieve in ? " 

"You see, Mike," was Pat's reply, "it is just 
this way. If I had two hundred thousand dol- 
lars I wud gie ye half." 

" But if ye had two pigs ? " asked Mike. 

"Oh, g'wan," was the quick response, "ye 
know well enough I've got two pigs." 

Pat's sudden change of front well illustrates the 
attitude of a good many people who regard 
socialism as a good thing only so long as it does 
not seem likely to be put into practice. The 
real socialist is he who is willing to stand by his 
guns and put into practice that which he has 
taught. 

But the tale also illustrates another thing. It 
shows a common misunderstanding as to the 
nature of true socialism. 

69 



70 SOCIALISM 

For the best socialism does not look to any such 
extreme step as the division of present property 
or wealth. It only desires a rebuilding of society 
along such lines as will make it possible for all to 
have a share of the wealth to be gained b\^ work- 
ing together in the future. There is no plan for 
dividing up fortunes that are already made. 
Such division is left to the natural operation of 
time. 

With the coming in of socialism present for- 
tunes would stop growing because interest, 
dividends, rentals, etc., would be cut off. As all 
would share equally in the benefits of the new in- 
dustrial system in the comforts and luxuries, as 
well as the necessaries of life — the poor would be 
as well off as the rich. Large fortunes would 
therefore be of use to their owners only when 
turned over to the government for the benefit of 
all. So, in course of time, it is expected that re- 
gard for his own welfare might cause the million- 
aire to give for public use that which he had 
formerly held for his own. 

Nor does socialism insist that everything shall 
be held in common. While it declares that un- 
der its rule society, or the people as a whole, 
would own the land, the money and themachin- 



SOCIALISM 71 

ery, which are now the main sources of private 
wealth, each man could still own those things 
which make for his enjoyment or comfort or 
which perish in the using. For example, a piano, 
the furnishings of one's house, dishes, pictures, 
ornaments, books, food and clothing, and the 
small tools which he uses. 

From this it is plain that socialism desires to 
do away only with that private property which 
is obtained through the toil of others. Thus a 
man could build a house on his own land for his 
own use ; but not to let to another for the pur- 
pose of deriving an income. 

It was once held by socialists that all land 
should be owned by society. Within recent 
years, however, they have been willing to allow 
small land-owners to cultivate their land them- 
selves, where the object is not to pile up profits. 
At the same time it is thought best that most of 
the capita], or wealth, and the greater part of the 
land should be owned by the people as a whole. 

Socialism vs. Anaechism 

Many persons once believed that socialism i nd 
anarchism were much the same thing. Such peo- 
ple looked upon the socialist as a wild-eyed man 



72 SOCIALISM 

with a dynamite bomb sticking out of his coat 
tail pocket. Happily, however, this idea is 
rapidly passing away, for those who have made 
any study at all of the subject know that it is not 
true. 

The difference is this. The anarchist would do 
away with all forms of government and would 
have no law at all. Or, rather, each man would 
be a law unto himself. He could share with 
others or not, just as he pleased. 

The socialist, on the contrary, does not wish to 
make government less, but to make it more, so 
as to take in everything. He would have the 
people as a whole own the coal mines, the rail- 
roads, the telegraph, the telephone, the shops 
and the mills, the land and the machinery, so 
that each must share in the goods and the profits 
resulting from the use of such things whether he 
wishes to or not. Each man would then have 
the yearly result of his labor for himself, but 
that yearly result would be little more than 
could be used up each year. His anxiety for the 
future would be removed, as he would always be 
sure of at least a living ; and cripples and others 
who could not work would be provided for by 
all. It is clear, therefore, that anarchism with 



SOCIALISM Y3 

its destruction of all forms of government and 
its cry of every man for himself, has nothing in 
common with true socialism. It was the social- 
ists who drove the anarchists from Germany, and 
this has happened elsewhere. 

Socialism and Marriage 

Another wrong idea of socialism is that it 
would do away with the family and put " free 
love" in place of marriage. As socialism is 
chiefly concerned with a change in the industrial 
and political systems, it has no real connection 
with views concerning the family. To be sure, 
some of the more extreme socialists believe in 
" free love," but it is not necessarily a doctrine 
of socialism any more than matrimony is neces- 
sarily a doctrine of our present system. Among 
the supporters of both, various and widely dif- 
ferent views are held concerning the sacredness 
of the marriage tie. Indeed, the socialist points 
out that modern business methods — as they 
operate, for instance, in the factory towns of 
New England, where women are more largely 
employed than men, in the logging camps of the 
lumber districts, and the gold and silver mining 
camps of the West where men are, to a great de- 



74 SOCIALISM 

gree, separated from womenkind — are destroying 
the family. As evidence of this be points to the 
increasing number of divorces and the decreasing 
number of marriages in industrial centres, and 
asserts that this condition of things is brought 
about largely by the necessity for separation of 
the members of the family in order that they 
may gain support. 

Socialism and Eeligion 

It is often declared by those who know little 
about the subject that socialists believe neither 
in God nor religious forms. Almost the same 
answer may be given to this criticism as to 
that concerning marriage. Among socialists 
will be found men of all religious views, just as 
among the members of any other party. Some 
socialists are regular church-goers ; others are 
not. Some are strong believers in God and 
the Bible; others hold liberal, or even loose, 
views concerning both. They w T ould undoubtedly 
hold the same views if they w r ere not socialists. 
Some there are who assert that socialism is nearer 
to the spirit of true Christianity than the present 
social order, because both the former aim to help 
the weak and lift the fallen. At the same time, 



SOCIALISM 75 

it is true that the socialists in European countries, 
such as France, for instance, have generally been 
against the Church for the reason, they say, that 
the Church has usually supported the claims of 
the rich and strong against the poor and the 
weak. But while they quarrel with the Church, 
men may still be truly religious and truly be- 
lievers in God. Socialism does not say that its 
followers shall either believe in God or not be- 
lieve in Him ; either go to church or stay at 
home. Its chief concern is with their material, 
not their spiritual, welfare. 

Socialism Defined 

In thus learning something of what socialism 
is not, we have at the same time learned some- 
thing of what it is. Only a little need be added 
to this information to make the subject clearer 
arid more fully understood. 

In its simplest terms socialism may be said to 
be any plan which would put in place of the 
individual, company or trust working for private 
gain the people in the mass working together for 
the common good in all lines of human effort. 
This is, of course, true brotherhood. 

But the word socialism as ordinarily used has 



76 SOCIALISM 

a far narrower meaning. It calls to mind a 
system for the betterment of trade and business 
affairs, which deals with other questions only 
when they bear upon trade and business. It 
concerns itself with politics because without a 
change in government policy socialists see that 
they cannot fully bring about the change de- 
sired. This socialism which plans for a complete 
reform in present methods is often called 
" Scientific Socialism." This is the socialism 
of the Socialist Labor Party which holds con- 
ventions, prepares a platform, and nominates a 
full ticket of government officials as do other 
political parties. As we have already seen in 
Chapter II, it puts out a very full programme of 
desired reforms. 

It does not wish, however, to force itself upon 
any one. In fact, even under a Cooperative 

Commonwealth it is quite willing 
Personal that the individual shall make a liv- 

Freedom Under . . 

socialism mg by private efforts if he were able 
to do so. But of course he would 
not be able to gain an income from ownership of 
land and capital, because these would be public 
property. Socialism expects to provide for 
education as is done at present ; but it does not 



SOCIALISM 77 

purpose on that account to prevent any one from 
having a private school. Socialism proposes a 
medical organization for the benefit of all, but 
this should not prevent a physician from engag- 
ing in private practice if he desired to do so and 
could find persons who preferred his services to 
those of the public physicians. While socialism, 
therefore, would not limit the freedom of in- 
dividuals in these and other respects, it holds 
that men would find it to their advantage to 
have a share in the public production, and so 
would work with the others in the socialistic 
community for the common good. 

On analyzing the doctrines of socialism we find 
that they naturally divide themselves into four 
main elements, or principles, as follows: 

1. The ownership by the people as a whole of 
the machinery, the land and the capital ; 

2. The operation or management 
F fu r ci Eie^nts ot all industries by the people acting, 
under a form of cooperative govern- 
ment, for the benefit of society in general ; 

3. The distribution, by some common author- 
ity, of the income resulting from the profits of the 
general management of all production ; 

4. Private control of the annual share of each 



78 SOCIALISM 

individual arising from common ownership of all 
industries ; and private ownership of those goods 
which are used for personal enjoyment and not 
for renting or leasing to others in order to gain 
personal riches. 



CHAPTER VI 

LIFE UNDER SOCIALISM 

Now what would Green's lot have been had he 
lived under a socialistic government ? In order 
to settle this question we must look forward into 
the future, and take it for granted that socialism 
has been adopted in all its completeness as the 
only remedy for the ills that affect humanity. 

Let us suppose, then, that all the conditions of 
to-day in trade and politics — in the methods of 
buying and selling and in the system of govern- 
ment — have been as completely dispensed with as 
if they had never been. 

The New Industrial System 

Instead of a society divided into classes — the 
very rich, a large middle class in moderate cir- 
cumstances, and the very poor — we find a vast 
army of laborers all working for one great busi- 
ness corporation — the Cooperative Common- 
wealth. 

No longer are there private businesses of any 

79 



80 SOCIALISM 

kind to bring to some wealth and power, to oth- 
ers moderate success and prosperity, 
The New Era and to still more disappointment or 
ruin. No longer does one class prey 
upon another class. No longer do dishonest men 
take advantage of the needs and necessities of the 
people to enrich themselves. Hunger and physical 
misery exist no longer in the land. From the 
brightest man to the dullest, all are sure of an 
equal chance to enjoy not only the comforts and 
necessities of life, but such luxuries as they 
desire. 

Does the fact that the nation now stands in 
place of all companies, large and small, the corpo- 
rations, the syndicates, and the great 

Pa"t^e?ship trusts for which the people formerly 
worked, account for this desirable 
state of things ? Not wholly. It is because, 
while the people are employees of the nation, they 
themselves are equal partners in the national cor- 
poration. Sharing alike in the products of all its 
many activities, in working for it they are work- 
ing for their own best good. 

Born under socialism, Johnny finds his lot not 
essentially different from that of other boys. If 
his father is a carpenter it is because he seems 



SOCIALISM 81 

best fitted for that trade. Should he wish at any 
time to become something more than a carpenter, 
nothing but his own unfitness for whatever he 
may wish to be can prevent his rise to higher oc- 
cupations. 

But while he is a simple carpenter, and may 
always remain so, he is not looked down upon by 

those whose work is of the brain and 
T v?ewpomt ed n °t °f the hands, as is now often the 
case. This is true even of the com- 
mon laborer. While pursuing an humble occupa- 
tion he still has all the rights and privileges of 
his fellow men, and is respected accordingly. 
While the world lasts there must always be those 
who are better fitted for physical labor than for 
mental effort, and under socialism the labor of 
the hands would be regarded as equally important 
as the labor of the brain. 

And everything would be done to make even 
the most common forms of labor easy and pleas- 
ant. The opposition to new inven- 
inve S nti ? o f ns tions now often shown by employers 
because of the changes and large first 
cost necessary would be done away with, as the 
expense would fall equally upon all. So, too, the 
workers would no longer fear that the adoption 



82 SOCIALISM 

of labor-saving machinery might result either in 
entire loss of work or in lower wages. Under 
socialism, all would share with the rest of the 
community in the advantages gained by such 
improvements in working methods, and there 
would probably be a large increase in the number 
of inventions and discoveries. 

Goods Distributed According to Desires 

If Green lived in a more modest house and had 
fewer luxuries than his neighbor, it would be be- 
cause his desires were moderate and he cared lit- 
tle for useless luxuries. 

In the Cooperative Commonwealth, the fact 
that one man lived in a cottage and another in a 
mansion would give no indication of his circum- 
stances, but only of his tastes. Much the same 
thing happens now among men of equal wealth. 
One millionaire has a great love for display ; he 
likes to show the visible evidences of his riches. 
His residence is more imposing and costly than 
that of those whose circumstances are as good as 
his. It may be situated in the suburbs, surrounded 
by extensive grounds. He may find his principal 
delight in the raising of blooded cattle, or in the 
cultivation of rare flowers or fruits. His partner. 



SOCIALISM 83 

on the contrary, may be content to stick to the 
city residence which he occupied when his wealth 
was not so large as it has since grown to be, and 
find satisfaction in filling his home with costly 
pictures from overseas or with rare old volumes 
representing a small fortune. 

Under socialism there would be just as much 
difference in tastes and desires as at present. It 
is not sought to give to each man the same sort 
of a house, the same sort of furniture, and the 
same kind and number of luxuries. But it is 
sought to give him as large an amount of the 
comforts and necessities of life as any of the rest 
enjoy ; and as many of the luxuries as he cares 
for. 

Great Private Luxury Discouraged 

Green's house, under a successful socialistic 
government, would probably be far better and 

more convenient and comfortable 
H?me°Life th an that of the laborer of to-day. 
Nevertheless, it is the aim of social- 
ism to discourage great private luxury, as tending 
to set aside an unnecessarily large amount of 
material wealth for the selfish satisfaction of the 
few, while it favors a large increase in those 



84 SOCIALISM 

things which add to popular enjoyment and 
pleasure. 

In the Cooperative Commonwealth the amount 
of the nation's wealth remaining over the cost 

of industrial operations and the full 

ufeof ah satisfaction of the needs and reason- 
able desires of the people, would be 
spent for the good of all. Beautifully laid out 
pleasure grounds and parks, fine public libraries, 
splendid art museums, free theatres and schools, 
the best highways, baths, and the most attractive 
public buildings — all these are held by socialists 
to be none too good for the people, and under the 
new industrial system would be amply provided 
for. At the same time, it is expected that each 
one's share of the yearly profits would be more 
than enough to give to his home life all those 
things now enjoyed only by a few. Anything 
that Green wanted that others had he could 
readily obtain, for his ownership of the national 
products would be the same as theirs. 

Absence of the Class Feeling 

As a boy Johnny would have just as many 
suits of clothes as other bo} T s, and of just as good 
a quality. There would be none to look down 



SOCIALISM 85 

upon him because of any lack of material posses- 
sions. His express wagon would be just as good 
as Billy Jones's, and he would have just as many 
toys as he cared for. As he grew older he could 
hold his head just as high as the rest, for his par- 
ents would stand on the same footing as the par- 
ents of other boys. 

Income not Dependent upon Trade 

Conditions 

The condition of his father's trade would have 
little or nothing to do with the amount of the 

family income. In case of a decrease 
work for aii in demand for work at carpentry, the 

hours of labor for all carpenters 
would be shortened accordingly so as to keep 
each man at work. No doubt, in case of over- 
production, the workers in one trade would be, 
for the time being, drafted into other service, un- 
til operations in their own trade again became 
brisk. At all times it would be the endeavor of 
the officers of the government — officers chosen 
by the people for their fitness as managers — to so 
regulate demand and supply that there would be 
no over-production and no lack of work for all 
able bodied members of society. 



86 SOCIALISM 

Public Care in Case of Illness 

In case Johnny's father became sick he would 
still continue to draw his part of the yearly prof- 
its of the entire nation, and the loss of his serv- 
ices to society and the expense of his sickness 
would be borne by all. He would have at his 
call a public doctor and a public nurse, whose re- 
ward like his own would consist of a share of the 
profits of the national industries. Fear of 
poverty would cause him no anxiety during his 
illness, and his mind would also be free from 
worry about the fate of his family in case of his 
death. If he failed to recover, his funeral ex- 
penses would be borne by the public, and his 
share of the public income would be paid to his 
wife and children. 

Freedom of Children During the 

School Age 

Under such conditions child labor would be 
unknown. Whether his father were sick or ill, 

Johnny could still attend school. 

chiid^Labor Because of better care, food, and 

more healthful home conditions, the 

vast number of children who now die annually 

simply from lack of these things, would be saved 



SOCIALISM 87 

for future lives of usefulness in the public service. 
During the school age no labor would be required ; 
and if Green desired a higher education than 
that of the common schools and had the necessary 
intelligence, the way would be open for him. 
Any special talent shown by him for the arts or 
sciences would be encouraged, and he would have 
every opportunity to cultivate it in special schools 
provided for that purpose. 

Art and Science Under Socialism 

It seems certain that music, art and literature 
would flourish as never before. Freed from the 

necessity of saving for support in 
Th im r P o?tInir d °ld age, a man could develop talents 

now, in many cases, left undeveloped. 
A person showing great talent for any of the 
arts would probably be given his freedom from 
other duties, so as to make the most of his natural 
gift. His work would be regarded as important 
in its way as that of those in trades and profes- 
sions, because it would add to the enjoyment and 
pleasure of all mankind. What would the world 
of our day be without books, pictures, and music ? 
Very dull and commonplace, would it not ? And 
yet present industrial conditions are unfavorable 



88 SOCIALISM 

to the finest development of these things, which 
thrive best in an atmosphere of comfort, content- 
ment, and leisure. It is because of a knowledge 
of this fact that socialism meets with so much 
favor among painters, poets and authors. Art is 
for the masses and not merely for the millionaire, 
but the masses must have opportunity to fully ap- 
preciate and enjoy it before it becomes as impor- 
tant as the constant struggle to make a living is 
to-day. When the people are free to cultivate 
their love for such things, and when men of real 
talent are no longer obliged to give the most of 
their time to the mere business of getting a liv- 
ing, then art and science will reach their highest 
stage of development. 



CHAPTER VII 
life under socialism {Continued) 

On his approach to manhood Green would at- 
tach himself to that trade or profession which 

most appealed to him. A man 

T of work 6 gives his best services to that which 
he likes and can do best, and it 
would be for the interests of society as a whole, 
as well as his own, to place him in the position 
most suited to his natural ability and desires. 
There might be, indeed, an experimental period 
during which, when coming of age, all men 
would work as common laborers, and pass upward 
into the higher occupations as they showed 
ability for better things. 

The Nationalistic Scheme 

Mr. Edward Bellamy, in his socialistic sys- 
tem as revealed in his books " Looking Back- 
ward " and " Equality," imagines future society 
to be divided into a great industrial army. This 

89 



90 SOCIALISM 

consists, first, of the grade of common laborers^ 
assigned to the more ordinary kinds of work. To 
this grade all young men, during their first three 
years as workers, belong. 

Second, the apprentices, or men who are mas- 
tering the first elements of their chosen voca- 
tions. 

Third, the main body of the full workers, be- 
ing men between twenty-five and forty-five 
years. 

Fourth, the officers, from the lowest who have 
direct charge of the men, to the highest, or 
managers. 

The unclassified workers of the first class are 
supposed to be in a sort of school, learning in- 
dustrial habits. During the first quarter of his 
year of apprenticeship, the laborer becomes fa- 
miliar with the principles of his vocation ; and on 
the last three-quarters the quality of his work de- 
termines in which grade among the workers he 
shall be enrolled on becoming a full workman. 
In trades which cannot be fully learned in a 
year, the apprentice falls into the lower grades 
of full workmen and works upward as he grows 
in skill. 

The full workmen are divided into three grades, 



SOCIALISM 91 

according to efficiency, and each grade into a first 

and second class, so that there are in 
Graded Labor all six classes, into which men are 

drafted according to their ability. 
The men are regraded yearly, so that merit never 
need wait long to rise. 

Under this, or a similar system, each one would 
naturally find his proper place, and the knowledge 
that he could rise into a higher grade of work by 
increased intelligence and skill would act as a 
spur upon his ambition. 

Mr. Bellamy believes that occupations which 
are especially disagreeable and are not therefore 

likely to attract many to them could 
An objection be made attractive by granting for 

them a shorter working day. In 
like manner, should the number offering them- 
selves for any one pursuit be larger than required 
to satisfy the demand for such services, the work- 
ing day could be lengthened to make the work 
less attractive. He thinks that this plan would 
work equally well with all occupations, but some 
socialistic writers disagree with him because of 
the vast number of occupations which are neces- 
sary. Says one : " How could the supply of the 
higher positions in the socialistic state be made 



92 SOCIALISM 

to equal the demand by changing the working 
day ? To ask the question is to answer it. Many 
occupations now require, and should under any 
system require, if they are to be carried on satis- 
factorily, the full strength and time of those who 
are engaged in them. Moreover, the interests of 
society demand that there should not be a free 
selection of occupations, so far as the most in- 
fluential and desirable occupations are concerned, 
but those should have these positions who are 
best fitted to follow them. It would seem that it 
would be necessary to proceed more in accord- 
ance with the principles which now govern the 
selection of public servants, where the civil serv- 
ice has attained a condition of excellence." * 

He believes that even this presents certain dif- 
ficulties which have not yet been solved. 

Be that as it may, it is certain that in the Co- 
operative Commonwealth, Green's life would be 
far happier and freer from anxiety than is the 
workman's life to-day. 

Absence of Present Troubles 
In the first place, there would be no strikes, 

1 Richard T. Ely, in ''Socialism and Social Reform." 



SOCIALISM 93 

because each man would be sure of the just re- 
ward of his labor. As a rule, the 

other e Evils hours of labor would probably be 
shorter than at present, and the 
hours for rest, recreation, and self-improvement 
therefore longer. 

There would be no lay-offs because of over-pro- 
duction, because production would be regulated 
to satisfy needs only. 

There would be no " cornering " of the necessi- 
ties of life, in order to make prices higher for the 
personal profit of a few. 

Under the present condition of things, what 
those who control production want is not abun- 
dance of commodities, but large values. To ob- 
tain these they sometimes limit the supply of 
goods which the people cannot do without. 
Nowadays producers of such commodities as 
fruits have been known to destroy a share of 
them in years when fruits were plenty, in order 
to keep up values. And cotton raisers also, in 
years of great cotton production, have seriously 
tried to find means to limit the supply of cotton. 
They wish nature to be generous, but not too 
generous. 

As Professor Ely puts it : " So full of contra- 



94 SOCIALISM 

dictions is our present economic order, that men 
must go without coats because too much clothing 
has been produced, and children must go hungry 
because the production of grain has been over- 
abundant. As the socialists have said, with some 
measure of truth, ' Under civilization poverty is 
born of plenty.' " 

Where all worked together for the common 
good, there would be none of the enormous 

wastes of wealth, time and effort 
wastes caused by competition. Under the 
present system where each is striv- 
ing for himself, these wastes are necessary. 

In order to sell his goods a manufacturer must 
now spend large sums for advertising, or employ 
agents to travel over the country and induce the 
retail merchants to handle his products. Some- 
times he does both. The cost of this advertising 
and of the salaries and expenses of traveling men 
must be made up somehow. The producer there- 
fore sells his goods at prices large enough to 
cover these expenses and give him a handsome 
profit. The merchant to whom he sells must also 
make a profit. Sometimes, too, there is a third 
party to be considered — the middleman — who 
stands between the manufacturer and the retailer. 



SOCIALISM 95 

At least two and sometimes three profits are 
therefore added to the first cost of the article. 

Take the case of typewriters, for example. It 
is said that the best typewriting machines can be 

made at an actual cost of less than 
Exampie g twenty-five dollars ; they sell for one 
hundred dollars. Whv the differ- 
ence ? Simply because the manufacturing com- 
pany must get enough for its machines to pay all 
the expense of manufacture, the cost of main- 
taining agencies in various large cities, and be- 
sides a large return. 

If, instead of selling through agencies of his 
own, the manufacturer sells to a middleman or 
direct to the retailer, he often makes it a con- 
dition of sale that a certain price shall be put 
upon his product wherever it is sold. 

Thus the manufacturer of a new safety razor, 
the actual cost of making which is said to be 

about sixty cents, has an agreement 
Profits with retailers of this article that it 
shall never be sold under five dol- 
lars. Whether buyers obtain it direct from him 
or from a retail dealer, the price is the same. By 
making such an agreement the producer prevents 
the cutting of prices and makes sure of a large 



96 SOCIALISM 

profit so long as the article is in demand. Of 
course where he sells direct to the people there is 
no dealer's profit to be considered and his own 
return is larger. But he is willing to give the 
dealer a chance because through him he can put 
the article more widely before the country, re- 
sulting in larger sales. If the dealer cuts the 
price the manufacturer simply refuses to supply 
him with further goods. Thus the dealer is at 
the mercy of the manufacturer, and the people 
are at the mercy of both, even though the profits 
demanded by the manufacturer are unreasonable. 
Under socialism, these and other articles would 
be sold direct to the people at the actual cost of 
manufacture or nearly so. 

Socialism would also do away with the chance 
of success or failure which now plays a large part 

in business. With production car- 
Chan natS imi " r J e d on according to a regular sys- 
tem by the people as a whole, and 
not each for himself as at present, the " hit or 
miss " way of doing business would be a thing of 
the past. Production in all lines would be so 
planned as to supply the needs of the people 
only — in other words, the actual demand. With 
production and manufacture combined on a vast 



SOCIALISM 97 

scale under the management of the nation, the 
amount of demand likely for any given product 
or article could be as readily foreseen and pro- 
vided for as it is now easy for the insurance com- 
panies to tell how many deaths will occur within 
a year among a certain number of people. 
Although nothing is so uncertain as life and death 
as regards a single person, experience has shown 
that the number of deaths occurring among so 
many thousands of people, in so long a time, is 
very regular. 

Likewise, while it is uncertain how large a 
supply of any one product will meet the demands 
of a small portion of the community for a given 
length of time, it is possible to estimate about 
how much the entire population of a country will 
require during the same period. 

At present a business man may think there is a 
demand for a certain line of goods where no real 

demand exists or it is already fully 
t^n e ty e SfD"m e and su PP^ e d by others. If he manufac- 
tures or lays in a supply of such 
goods and fails to dispose of them, the result is 
disappointment and financial loss — not only to 
himself but to society in general, because the 
money and effort which he might have put into 



98 SOCIALISM 

things of benefit to all have been wasted. Mul- 
tiply one instance of this kind by the thousands 
of business failures which occur every j^ear under 
our present commercial system and it is easy to 
see how large a waste is caused by misdirected 
energy. 

This element of chance is also present in the 
growing of natural products. The expected large 
wheat crop in Minnesota may be destroyed by a 
hot, dry summer,, or by too cold and too wet 
weather. The result to the wheat growers is 
large loss and sometimes utter despair and 
poverty, besides the waste of a whole summer of 
hard labor. 

While socialism could not of course change the 
weather conditions, the farmer, being an equal 

sharer with the rest in all the profits 
The Farmer's of the nation's industries, would not 

Greater Inde- 

pendence have to depend upon the success of 
his crops for support, and his lot in 
this respect alone would therefore be far easier 
than that of the tiller of the soil to-day. The 
wheat that he, in his section of the country, might 
fail to raise for a season, might be abundant 
enough elsewhere to more than make up the 
difference. 



SOCIALISM 99 

So with other products. Taking the country 
as a whole, nature can usually be relied upon to 
produce enough of any one thing to fully meet 
the needs of the people year after year, however 
much the quantity may differ in different sec- 
tions. Doubtless with the increased use of ma- 
chinery to lighten labor conditions, farming 
would be as easy and pleasant as any other occu- 
pation, thus attracting to it a large number of 
people. With plenty to help, the soil would 
probably be more highly cultivated and the crops 
far larger and better than at present. 

Lore. 



CHAPTER VIII 
LIFE under socialism {Continued) 

Under socialism Green would have no taxes 
to pay. Taxation now is necessary in order to 

raise the means to pay the running 

No Taxes expenses of the government, and 
the cost of public improvements 
In the Cooperative Commonwealth the total 
amount necessary could be deducted from the 
annual receipts of the nation, and the remainder 
alone be distributed among the people. 

While the yearly income of Green and his 
fellows would probably never equal that of the 
present day millionaire, owing to the necessity 
of dividing the national funds among so many, 
yet if socialism proved successful, it would be far 
larger than that which even the most prosperous 
laboring man can hope to gain under present 
conditions by labor alone. With all that makes 
life really worth living amply provided for, huge 
incomes would be unnecessary. 

As it is now, neither the millionaire nor the 
working man can rest secure in the thought that 

100 



SOCIALISM 101 

he will always be able to provide the needs and 
necessities of life. 

Although the laborer is often disposed to envy 
his rich employer, the latter has troubles of his 

own. The greater his fortune the 

Muuonafres harder he must work to hold it. 
The riches he has piled up may be 
swept away by a crisis in the money market or 
by unwise speculations. A larger producer com- 
ing into his field may ruin his business, or strikes 
and labor troubles may reduce his wealth to 
moderate figures. Under socialism he would be 
free from the fears which now beset him, and 
might perhaps even welcome the change, if his 
income were smaller than it is now. 

If all were on the same level there would be 
none of these troubles. After all, money cannot 
buy happiness and freedom from care. It can 
only insure a good living, and the chance to ob- 
tain that which one desires in the way of com- 
forts, luxuries and amusements. Given all these 
under a reliable socialistic system, and the reason 
for piling up huge fortunes at once disappears. 

Learned Professions Under Socialism 
The learned professions — teaching, medicine, 



102 SOCIALISM 

and the ministry — would also profit by socialism 
In the first place the field would not be so 
crowded. Many young men now take up pro- 
fessions for which they are unsuited simply to 
escape the unpleasant conditions attached to 
mechanical trades, and because the earnings of 
successful professional men seem large as com- 
pared with the earnings in other callings. This, 
under socialism, where incomes would be equal 
and the harder lines of labor made more at- 
tractive, might cease. 

It will be noticed that law is not mentioned. 
The omission is made purposely because socialists 
claim that, in the Cooperative Commonwealth, 
there would be little need for law or lawyers. 

Under present conditions the larger number of 
ordinary crimes arise from poverty or a desire to 

make money faster than can be done 

F R^quh : ed' s honestly. Aside from these, most 
of the cases that are fought out in 
the courts are based on disputes over private 
propert} 7 . With common ownership and equal 
treatment the motive for such disputes would be 
removed, and all the mass of laws now passed to 
cover such matters w T ould be needless. 

In proof of these claims, socialists point out 



SOCIALISM 103 

the fact that the publicly owned post-office 
seldom figures in law suits. The laws concern- 
ing it are few and simple, when compared with 
those regarding the privately owned railroad or 
street railway which, for one cause or another, is 
constantly before the courts. In this connection, 
it may also be pointed out that the postal service 
is much better and quicker than the service of 
privately owned express companies. 

So, too, laws concerning corporations and the 
relations of labor and capital would be needless, 
because the private corporation would no longer 
exist, and all alike would be laborers and sharers 
in the nation's capital. 

It is expected also that, with poverty and 
physical misery done away with, the moral con- 
dition of the whole community would be raised. 
Human nature is at the bottom good, and much 
of the envy, hatred and strife aroused by the 
present hard struggle for comfortable existence 
would pass away. 

Benefits of Socialism to Women 

The relations of men and women would also be 
on a far better and purer basis than at present 
Women would share equally with men in all the 



104 SOCIALISM 

advantages of the new order of things. She 
would, in fact, enjoy all the rights and privileges 
of her husband, sons and brothers. Like them 
she would labor, but not at tasks unsuited to her 
or that would in any way blunt her finer in- 
stincts. If she married, it would be for love and 
not for support, wealth, or position. 

No longer would she be obliged to sell body 
and soul in order to get the means to live, as 

many thousands now do because 
A s^ciliEvii he other ways are closed to them. 
The vast army of miserable and un- 
happy women who nightly walk the streets of 
our large cities would consequently disappear, 
and the terrible problem of the social evil, with 
all the evils that it brings in its train, would be 
solved. 

Woman's independent position would give man 
a greater respect for her, and the knowledge that 
she need marry only for love would force him to 
measure up to her standard of manhood. Free 
to wait until the right man presented himself, and 
doubtless free also to express her own preference 
without being considered immodest, happy mar- 
riages would be the rule rather than the exception. 

Under such circumstances divorces would be 



SOCIALISM 105 

rare and family life would be far better and purer 
than it is to-day. Doubtless household cares and 
labor would be greatly lessened by more conven- 
ient and more comfortable homes and the use of 
simple machines to perform the harder and more 
disagreeable tasks. Born wholly of love and un- 
der comfortable conditions of life, the children 
resulting from such unions would be an honor to 
their parents and to the race. 

If a woman desired for any reason to remain 
single, she could do so without worry or anxiety 
for the future. While at first it might be thought 
that this independence of women might lead to 
fewer marriages, it will be seen upon reflection 
that the contrary would probably be the case. 

For while the reason for many marriages 
nowadays — the desire for support, wealth or posi- 
tion — would be done away with, 
Mo pr5blb r i i e a8:es y° un g m en who now desire to marry, 
but do not dare to do so because of 
poor circumstances or the uncertainty of steady 
work, would, under socialism, no longer have 
reason to hesitate. 

The greater independence of women, therefore, 
would be offset by the removal of the chief ob- 
jection to marriage made at present by men who 



106 SOCIALISM 

would like to marry if they thought they could 
afford to do so. There need be no fear that 
woman, in her new position of independence, 
would lose her desire for marriage, because, hap- 
pily, the attraction of sex and the instincts of 
love and motherhood are planted too deeply in 
her nature by an all wise Creator for that. While 
in many cases she now refuses a man whom she 
would willingly marry if his prospects were 
brighter, under socialism she would gladly follow 
the pleadings of her heart and make him and her- 
self happy. 

Trade Under Socialism 

The reader may be curious to know how Green 
would obtain his supplies under the Cooperative 
Commonwealth, and how he w r ould paj^ for them. 

On this point there is considerable uncertainty 
even among socialists themselves. But in a gen- 
eral way it can be asserted that he would doubt- 
less obtain whatever goods he needed from large 
central supply houses. 

But what would he give in exchange ? Would 
money be used as at present, or would that lose 
its value and usefulness with the passing away of 
the old order of things ? 



SOCIALISM 107 

The more extreme socialists believe that, under 
their system, there would be no need of money ; 

and that all purchases could be made 
Labor checks by means of labor checks showing 

the amount of labor time put in by 
those who held them. This labor time would 
represent value in goods. Inasmuch as all able- 
bodied members of society would be obliged to 
work and in most trades the hours would be the 
same, all would be treated fairly, and the amount 
standing to the credit of one would be the same 
as that of another. 

For those dangerous or disagreeable callings 
for which even shorter hours were granted as an 
inducement to enlist in them, probably the value 
of the work would be rated higher, so as to make 
the amount even with that of persons who actually 
performed more work in lighter and pleasanter 
occupations. 

Edward Bellamy, in "Looking Backward," 
gives an account of a credit system without the 

use of mone} 7 , worked out in all its 
T c e re^ft i s°ys a tem ic details. By his system, at the end 

of each year the amount of the na- 
tion's wealth is determined. Then, after the 
necessary sums have been set aside to carry out 



108 SOCIALISM 

public improvements and support the helpless and 
weak, the remainder is divided by the number of 
the population, and the result shows the amount 
of the citizen's personal credit. A credit-card is 
then issued to every citizen for such amount, rep- 
resented by the old terms of dollars and cents. 
On this the prices of goods purchased are stamped 
as they are made throughout the year. In case 
a person uses up the entire amount before the 
year is out, he may draw on his next year's credit 
to a limited extent ; but this practice is not to 
be encouraged, and all extravagance is frowned 
upon. 

Say, for instance, that the individual share for 
a certain year is found to be $4,000. A credit- 
card is then issued to every person for that 
amount. So long as he keeps within that amount, 
a man may buy what he pleases. This allows 
him the same freedom in the use of his credit as 
is allowed him now in the use of his earnings. 
In case he does not use all his credit during the 
year, the rest is simply marked off. Thus each 
man starts the year on the same footing as his 
neighbors. 

While $4,000 may seem only a drop in the 
bucket to the present-day millionaire, who thinks 



SOCIALISM 109 

nothing of spending as much on a single article 
or for a single night's pleasure, to most working 
men it would be more than sufficient to supply 
him with all that he needs or cares for. 

It must be remembered, too, that in an age 
where goods were sold at cost, the purchasing 

power of four thousand dollars 
Greater Purchas- would be much greater than it is 

ing Power Un- ° 

der socialism now. Many of those things also 
which are now a drain upon the 
private purse would be free — for instance water, 
light, music, news, postal, telegraph and telephone 
messages, means of travel, express and freight 
services, amusements, medical services, and higher 
education. 

Of course, this sum is only taken for an ex- 
ample of the working out of such a system. In 
years of great national prosperity it might be 
more, and at other times even less. But 'what- 
ever it was each one would have the satisfaction 
of knowing that his income was as large as that 
of any one else. As human nature is constituted, 
this in itself would be a source of contentment ; 
for discontent often arises merely from a desire 
to be as well off as the next man. It is the ob- 
ject of socialism to avoid both individual poverty 



110 SOCIALISM 

and individual possession of great wealth. This 
is in harmony with Agur's prayer (Proverbs 
30 : 8, 9) : " Give me neither poverty nor riches ; 
feed me with food convenient for me. Lest I be 
full, and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord ? or 
lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my 
God in vain." 

In a successful Cooperative Commonwealth 
there would be neither physical misery, nor 

wicked waste of money for unneces- 
N No^ e Mi^ry e sar y things and costly and often evil 
pleasures. Likewise, there would be 
no idle rich and no idle poor. The world would 
be the gainer thereby, and mankind, as a whole, 
far better and happier than at present. Of 
course, in Mr. Bellamy's system labor-time checks 
are not necessary, as each man's credit is based, 
not upon the number of labor hours he works, but 
upon the total amount of the nation's products. 

More moderate socialists, however, do not 
think that either system would work out success- 
fully. They say that the most natural way 
would be to continue our present monetary system 
in an improved form. They admit, however, 
that this would, in some degree, prevent that per- 
fect equality for which the more extreme social- 



SOCIALISM 111 

ists are striving ; but believe that with all the 
land, machinery, and the greater part of the 
capital under public control, the difference be- 
tween the amount of Green's personal wealth 
and that of Brown would not be so great as to 
cause either to feel that he was not treated fairly. 



CHAPTER IX 
life under socialism {Concluded) 

It is not to be supposed that socialism could do 
away with all physical suffering. Among Green's 

fellow citizens, even in the Coopera- 
The c?a e s P ses dent tive Commonwealth, there would 
undoubtedly be some who could 
work little if at all because of natural defects 
— for instance, the weak, the lame, the simple- 
minded, and the sick — although under the im- 
proved conditions of living it is safe to expect 
that the number of these would not be so large 
as at present. How then would these be provided 
for? 

Nowadays they are obliged to depend for ex- 
istence either upon private charity, often given 
to them grudgingly by relatives or friends, or 
upon public charitable societies, supported by 
taxation or contributions from the well to do. 

Although such charitable associations do an 

112 



SOCIALISM 113 

immense amount of good, they often carry on 

their work in a soulless, business- 
Ch and y Nlw n like wa y that fails to reach the most 

deserving cases. Many such suffer 
in want and misery nearly all their lives. They 
are usually looked upon as useless members of 
society who have only as much claim upon the 
care and attention of the rest as the rest see fit 
to give them. 

Under socialism, in which all men because of 
their common interest and ownership would be 

drawn close together, the brother- 
S °Mott S o ms hood of man would be very real. In 

fact, that is one of the greatest 
things which the socialist hopes to bring about. 
His motto is " One for all ; all for one," instead of 
each for himself, as at present. 

In the Cooperative Commonwealth no one 
would be allowed to suffer from want or lack 
of care, nor would the aid given to the helpless be 
regarded as merely charity. They would be re- 
garded as having as much right to share in the 
advantages and benefits of the new order as their 
abler brothers. Those who were unable to work 
from any cause would have a sure income guar- 



114 SOCIALISM 

anteed to them, because of the fact that they 
were members of the great human family. 

Mr. Bellamy beautifully brings out this idea 
when he makes one of the characters in " Look- 
ing Backward " say that those able to work are 
able to produce more than so many savages be- 
cause of the knowledge, machinery, and strivings 
of the race for thousands of years. Each genera- 
tion can add only a small part to the general 
knowledge and experience of all, which alone 
makes possible the great amount and variety of 
production to-day. 

And as all this has come down to the race as a 
whole, so all the race, and not merely the 

stronger part of it, has an equal 

£herif a C nce claim upon the value of the products 
thus made possible. What, he asks, 
referring to present conditions, did you do with 
the share of these unfortunate and crippled 
brothers ? " Did you not rob them when you put 
them off with crusts, who were entitled to sit 
with the heirs, and did you not add insult to rob- 
bery, when you called the crusts charity ?" 

From this it will be seen that, while it is the 
plan of socialism that each should give to the 
common welfare whatever services he is able to^ 



SOCIALISM 115 

it does not believe that any one should be allowed 
to suffer for lack of anything necessary to his 
health and happiness. 

Tramps and Idlers 

You may remember that, in a previous chapter, 
in describing the conditions of to-day, it was re- 
lated how Green went tramping one 

T AiTowed 0t summer. Would he be allowed to 
do so under socialism ? No. Be- 
cause all idleness would be discouraged, and there 
would be neither the idle rich from choice, nor 
the idle poor from choice or necessity. 

Under a system in which there was work for 
all, it can well be imagined that tramps would 
find little aid or sympathy. 

Tramps are now able to exist in idleness be- 
cause, for one reason, of the general feeling that 

most of them are tramps through no 

Th Feei?n| nt fault of their own, but simply be- 
cause they cannot get work they 
could do ; and for another, because they are 
looked upon as a necessary evil which cannot be 
cured. If we knew that there was always labor 
enough for all, and that those who were tramps 
were so wholly from choice, the feeling would 



116 SOCIALISM 

quickly change, and the " knights of the road " 
would be forced to work in order to live at all. 
This is what would happen under socialism. 

It is expected, too, that in a perfect Cooperative 
Commonwealth, few if any men would feel a de- 
sire to live in idleness. Surrounded by a com- 
munity every able-bodied member of which was 
doing his or her own part toward providing the 
material benefits which he desired to share, a 
man would have to be pretty hardened not to 
feel ashamed if he did not take hold with the 
rest. 

Now there is no such system for sharing work 
and material products, and where so many who 
do work are poorly paid and badly treated, it is 
perhaps natural that some prefer the free, care- 
less life of the highway, so long as they get 
enough to eat by begging, to the slavery of shop 
and mill. 

#■ -5* * # # «3f 

From all this it will be seen that Green and 
his fellows would profit immensely under social- 
ism, if it worked out as well in practice as social- 
ists think it would. But would socialism be as 
successful in full operation as its followers say ? 



SOCIALISM 117 

That is a question that can only be answered to 
the satisfaction of all by actual trial. There are 
always those who see in new and untried systems 
of government dangers and difficulties where per- 
haps none exist. At the beginning of the Ameri- 
can nation the friends of the Constitution brought 
about its adoption by all the thirteen original 
States only by the greatest efforts. "There was 
hardly a feature of it," says Martin's "Civil 
Government in the United States," " that escaped 
criticism ; and its most important provisions 
were subject to opposition on the most diverse 
grounds. Experience has shown how groundless 
Were most of the fears, and how absurd were 
many of the objections." Who shall say that the 
same may not be true of socialism ? At any rate, 
if even one-third of its promises are faithfully 
fulfilled, the world will be a far more comforta- 
ble place, and the conditions of life and labor for 
the average man far better than they are to-day. 



CHAPTER X 

FORMS OF SOCIALISM 

In describing the benefits and advantages to 
be expected in a Cooperative Commonwealth we 
have given the ideas of socialists in general with- 
out, for the most part, going into detail as to the 
differences of belief existing among socialists 
themselves as to the best methods of practice to 
reach the end desired by all. To arrive at a full 
understanding of the subject we must now learn 
something of the various forms under which 
socialistic ideas have been given to the world. 

To begin with, any idea or scheme to improve 
present business conditions along the lines of a 
change in the order of society is socialistic in 
nature. But modern socialism is different from 
older socialistic schemes because it believes that 
success can only be gained by changing the order 
or plan of society as a whole. 

In other words, it does not think that it is best 
for those who believe in socialism to draw apart 
from the rest and live by themselves. It is this 

118 



SOCIALISM 119 

which marks the slight difference between social- 
ism and communism. 

Communism 

As a general thing, communism calls upon men 
to separate themselves from the rest of mankind 
and to work together in villages or communities, 
sharing the profits of their work with each other, 
just as they would do in the larger cooperative 
wealth. 

At different times within the last hundred 
years or more people have tried to live together 
in such communities, but not with much success. 

Socialists say that this is not because the idea 
is wrong, but because such plans were tried on 
too small a scale. These communities were not 
large enough to get along without trading with 
the outside world, where the business system was 
entirely different. As the two systems are en- 
tirely at odds with each other the weaker, in 
point of wealth and number of followers, must 
fail. Although the inhabitants of a communistic 
village agree to work together and share the 
profits of their work with each other, they are 
still under the rule of a government which does 
not believe in such sharing. 



120 SOCIALISM 

Although they may not believe in taxes, for 
instance, and own their land in common, still 
they must pay taxes to the State in which they 
are located. The products or goods which they 
cannot raise or make themselves they must pay 
for or get by trading with the outside world, 
under a system of business profit which they do 
not believe in. In these and other ways they are 
hindered from making the most of their plan of 
life, as they would not be if all people believed 
in the cooperative community. 

Then, again, the change is too great for many 
of them. The community may be made up of 
men who have worked at trades or professions 
for which there is no demand in their new life. 
A machinist may be a very good machinist, but a 
mighty poor farmer because he does not like 
farming. 

Because the community usually starts in a 
small way and in an unsettled section of the 
country, the raising of crops and cattle is about 
the only thing which those in such a community 
can do, at least at first. The machinist and 
other men like him, who have always been used 
to the work of large cities, therefore find them- 
selves of little use and may grow tired of a life 



SOCIALISM 121 

that seems to them dull and uninteresting, even 
though the struggle is not so hard as they have 
found it outside. 

If the entire country was ruled by a socialistic 
government, such men could still find work at 
their trades, for there would be as many different 
kinds of work as at present. But they would 
then receive an equal share of the profits of their 
work, as would every one. 

Not being used to the simple life of a new 
community, many may also long for the comforts 
and luxuries enjoyed by those in the cities which 
they have left. 

On account of these and other reasons most 
attempts at communism fail. 

The true socialist believes that the only way 
to win success is to wait until socialism has 
gained such power that it can change the entire 
system of government, and in that he is undoubt- 
edly right. 

Socialism also differs from communism in not 
asking that everything shall be divided among 
the people ; and also in not teaching that mar- 
riage and family life are wrong, as do most forms 
of communism. 



122 SOCIALISM 

Fabianism 

A form of socialism called Fabianism aims to 
bring about a change in the business system 
gradually under present State laws. The Eng- 
lish Fabians and most American socialists, do 
not, in fact, talk about doing away with the 
State form of government. But both in England 
and the United States the government of the 
State is more largely in the hands of the people 
than in any other country, and so can be more 
easily made to serve the interests of all without 
changing it entirely. 

The chief difference between the Fabians and 
ordinary socialists seems to be this : The 
socialists expect some day to become so powerful 
as to elect socialist law-makers who will bring 
about the desired changes ; while the Fabians 
hope, by watching every chance in their favor, 
to change the laws one at a time and bring 
about in the end the complete control of the 
government by the people and for the peo- 
ple. The Fabian Society of England is made up 
of a larger number of educated men than per- 
haps can be found in any other society of so- 
cialists. 



SOCIALISM 123 

Nationalism 

This kind of socialism was started here in 
America by Edward Bellamy in 1888. His 
books, ''Looking Backward" and " Equality," 
give in story form his ideas regarding the control 
of all industry by the nation. 

In a preceding chapter we have already 
sketched his plan for dividing humanity into a 
great industrial army, and a full understanding 
of the subject may be obtained from the books 
named. It need only be added that the central 
thought in Nationalism is democracy in industry 
— that is, complete control by the people. 

At the present time we in the United States 
have such control in politics, however badly we 
exercise it, but industry is controlled by the 
capitalist and not by the people at large. The 
worker has no voice in the management of pro- 
duction and but little share in its profits. He 
must submit to the rule of the capitalist or quit 
his service. Socialists believe that political 
democracy cannot endure unless it goes hand in 
hand with industrial democracy, or control. 

The two systems — the political and the indus- 
trial — are now completely opposed to each other, 
and this alone is enough to account for the fact 



124 SOCIALISM 

that pure political democracy has never been 
fully realized even in the United States. So long 
as men are driven by poverty or greed to sell 
their votes to the highest bidder, and so long as 
men of great wealth are able to bribe dishonest 
law-makers, just so long will government, even 
under the best democratic svstem that was ever 
devised, rest with the few and not with the 
many. 

Although Nationalism at one time numbered 
thousands of intelligent men and women among 
its followers and upon its ideas was based the 
People's Party, afterward known as Populists, 
it has since lost its force as an important part of 
the socialistic movement. But while very little 
is heard of it nowadays, it did much to add to 
the number of socialists in this country, and to 
the efforts of the nationalists many good laws 
can be traced. 

State Socialism 

Not all socialists believe in the extreme or 
revolutionarv socialistic idea, which would over- 
throw all present forms of government in favor 
of a pure cooperative democracy, or common- 
wealth. The more moderate socialists support 



SOCIALISM 125 

what is called State Socialism. These do not 
look to a complete change in present government, 
but hope to bring about full control of all indus- 
trial operations by the state itself. 

The word " state " does not here refer to the 
various divisions of the country, each with its 
own government but bound together under the 
Constitution in one great nation. As used by 
socialists the term has a broader meaning, refer- 
ring to the whole body of people united under 
one government. 

Thus the whole American Republic is a demo- 
cratic state, because its rulers are chosen by the 
people. England, Germany, and other nations of 
Europe, are monarchical states, because ruled over 
by monarchs whose right to rule has come to 
them through custom and inheritance, and not 
through the direct choice of the people. 

The earlier socialism did not always believe in 
giving full power of political control into the 
hands of the people ; in other words, it was 
not necessarily democratic. Eobert Owen, the 
founder of socialism in England, and Count Henry 
de Saint-Simon, an early French socialist (1760- 
1825), both called upon the powers already in 
control to pass laws for the general welfare of 



126 SOCIALISM 

the people. They were willing that the state 
should still govern if only it would give the 
people a greater share in the products of their in- 
dustry. The term " State Socialism " to cover 
this idea originated in Germany, where it was re- 
garded with favor by Bismarck. 

Saint-Simon looked to royalty itself for assist- 
ance in carrying out his ideas for the betterment 
of industrial conditions. In his scheme of reform 
in France there was even a place for the King, 
who was to be called " The First Industrial of 
the Kingdom." In fact, it was then hoped that 
socialism would be introduced, not by the work- 
ers, but by the ruling classes. 

His followers laid great stress upon the natural 
differences between men ; and state aid, such as 
pensions for aged and disabled laborers, to be 
given by the already existing government, played 
a great part in their system. From this it will 
be seen that, in the beginning at least, State 
Socialism, while working for greater personal 
freedom and cooperation, and a fairer share in 
the results of labor, still favored a ruling power 
higher than the people themselves. 

Nowadays, however, even the most moderate 
socialists look upon an increase in public owner- 



SOCIALISM 127 

ship and management of industry under the state 
as a proper plan of action only while the state 
lasts. They do not regard the state as likely to 
endure always, and believe that the greater pub- 
lic control of trade and production will naturally 
lead in time to the birth of a real social democ- 
racy or Cooperative Commonwealth. 

While the Saint-Simonians believe in state 
ownership, instead of private ownership of prop- 
erty, they do not believe that labor's products 
should be divided equally among the members of 
society. They hold that men by nature are un- 
equal, and that it is right to give more to men of 
great power or talent, when used for the general 
good, than to men of lesser talent or power. In 
other words, every man, they say, should be paid 
according to the value of his services and not 
with an equal share of the nation's earnings, as 
with Nationalism. But like the nationalists they 
wish to form society on the plan of an army. 

It is not clearly stated in their writings how 
the ruling body of the state are to be selected, 
whether by popular vote or otherwise. Their 
idea seems to be that those best able to rule, the 
good and the wise, would be selected as leaders. 

As all should start with equal advantages, they 



128 SOCIALISM 

do not believe that property should be inherited ; 
in the new society which they propose, property 
now inherited would become common property. 

They do not believe in the equal division of 
property, for they hold that this would be 
directly against their teaching that each one 
should rank according to his capacity and be re- 
warded according to his works. 

Like the Christians they demand that one man 
should be united to one woman, but they teach 
that the wife ought to be the equal of the hus- 
band, and should enjoy full rights with him in 
everything. 

Social Democracy 

The extreme socialists do not believe that state 
control of industry should be the end and aim of 
all their efforts. The result for which they are 
striving, can only be obtained, they say, by a 
complete change in the form of government. 
This change would be in the nature of a 
social democracy, or Cooperative Commonwealth. 
Every man and woman would then have a direct 
share in the management not only of trade and 
commerce, but of the affairs of the nation. All 
superintendents, foremen and officials under a 



SOCIALISM 129 

social democracy would be elected directly by 
the people. 

With the exception of Owen and Saint-Simon 
and their followers, who, as we have already seen, 
favored state aid, socialism, even in its first stage, 
preferred willing cooperation of the people with- 
out state assistance. Etienne Cabet (1788-1856) 
— a French socialist who failed in an attempt to 
establish a socialistic community on the banks of 
the Red River in Texas, and afterward at the 
old Mormon Settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois, — 
and Charles Fourier (1772-1837), both believed 
that through such communities they could so 
demonstrate the advantages of socialism that 
very soon all men would join in the starting of 
like settlements, which could then be banded to- 
gether in a common league. 

But it remained for Karl Marx, the great leader 
of social democracy in Germany (1818-1883) and 
his follower, Liebknecht, to completely deny the 
teachings of state socialism. They held, how- 
ever, that the state would be abolished, not by 
force but by man's efforts to overthrow the pres- 
ent social order, but by a natural process. 

Marx favored the upholding of law and order 
under the belief that in time the end he worked 



130 SOCIALISM 

for could best be brought about by legal means, 
and that any revolution which might occur would 
come from the opposition of those who did not 
believe in social democracy. That is, he thought 
that when the triumph of socialism by lawful 
means becomes certain the supporters of the pres- 
ent industrial system will themselves start a rev- 
olution to prevent the change. But the more 
moderate socialists believe that all classes will 
gradually adjust themselves to the new system, 
so that no conflict will be necessary. 

The followers of Marx, who by his important 
work, " Capital," influenced more than any other 
man the labor movement all over the world, 
have, then, no special liking for state ownership. 
But in spite of this fact socialist office holders 
here in the United States are usually instructed 
to vote for municipal ownership, probably on the 
principle that if the whole loaf cannot be at once 
obtained, half a loaf is better than nothing. It 
is doubtless believed, too, that by giving the 
government more and more power over industries 
which have been under private control, the time 
will come when the change to a social democracy 
will be easy. 

The doctrines of Marx are held, in the main, by 



SOCIALISM 131 

the great body of socialists, and upon them are 
based to a greater or less degree the platforms of 
socialistic parties throughout the world. 

He believed that, as production on a large scale 
has an advantage over small production, the large 
producers sooner or later must crush out the 
small producers until each branch of industry 
falls under the control of the few. 

But meanwhile the wage-earners are brought 
together in ever increasing numbers ; they are, to 
use his own words, "schooled, united, and dis- 
ciplined by the mechanism of the capitalistic proc- 
esses of production." And he held that the sure 
result of this process would be such a piling up of 
wealth by the capitalists, and such a linking to- 
gether of the working classes, that the system 
must break down of its own weight, and the 
laborers would gain possession of the means of 
production. 

The key to Marx's teachings is his doctrine of 
value. According to this the thing that more 

than anything else gives value to 

Th of vaiue lne goods is labor. In order to produce 

his goods, the employer has to pay 

wages to his workmen. Each workman, however, 

produces more goods than would sell for the 



132 SOCIALISM 

amount paid for his work. The difference be 
tvveen what they will sell for and what is paid in 
wages Marx calls surplus value. 

For instance, if it takes four hours to produce 
goods enough to amount to the workman's daily 

wage, during the remaining four 

uw^ks hours of his labor day he is produc- 
ing surplus value. The employer 
requires him to produce this additional value be- 
cause he has hired his entire labor power. The 
laborer, therefore, is paid for only four hours' 
work, while he is, says the socialist, robbed of the 
other four hours' labor. The capitalist is able 
to rob the laborer of this amount simply be- 
cause he owns the means of production— the 
machinery and the buildings in which the work 
is carried on. He therefore pockets the surplus 
value, and uses the capital thus made by the labor 
of others for his own pleasure or to enlarge his 
business for the purpose of making still greater 
profits. 

Under this teaching all goods are looked upon 
only as the products of labor, which cost nothing 
but labor. Marx, however, shows the difference 
between goods whose value arises chiefly from 
their usefulness and those which, besides their 



SOCIALISM 133 

usefulness, have an added value as articles of 
trade or exchange. Many goods are very useful, 
but have no value as articles of exchange, because 
they are free to all. 

It follows that only those goods have a surplus 
value which are produced by labor, and this sur- 
plus value is only possible because 

The why SOn the laborer does not own the raw 
material from which the goods are 
made, nor the tools or machinery with which to 
make them. Those who do own the raw material 
and machinery refuse to give up the use of them 
unless they are given a share of the product. In 
actual fact, however, the employer takes all 
the goods and pays to the laborer his share in 
money. Because the laborer is poor and has him- 
self, and perhaps a family, to support, he must 
take the share which the capitalist grants to him, 
although the goods that his work has produced 
are of much greater value. Under the present 
system this will always be so, and the laborer 
will never receive the full value of the goods he 
produces. 

Under socialism, where the raw material, the 
machinery, and the buildings were owned by the 
people in common, each working man would re- 



134 SOCIALISM 

ceive the full value of his work during the entire 
labor day ; and there would then be no surplus 
value to go to another. In other words, in a social 
democracy the only way to obtain the fruits of 
labor will be by labor, of brain or hand, but al- 
ways labor of some kind or another. There 
could then be no idlers or those living on the 
labor of others. 

" But," say those who do not believe in social- 
ism, " the capitalist's profits are the reward of his 

risks. He puts his money into an 
An fn b Answ n e^ nd en terprise and takes his chances of 

getting it back. It is therefore no 
more than fair that his profits should be greater 
than those of the working man, w r ho risks nothing 
and has no interest in the business after his day's 
work is done." 

To this the socialist makes reply : " This is the 
argument of a gambler pure and simple. If men 
must be paid in proportion to the risks they take, 
then we should wipe out every law against gam- 
bling and make the faro bank a lawful business 
enterprise. There is no particular merit in risk- 
ing the money one already has to make more 
money, and very likely that which the capitalist 
has risked in carrying out a promising enterprise 



SOCIALISM 135 

is only a small part of his fortune. That fortune, 
too, may not have been made by his own efforts, 
but may have come to him through inheritance. 
Why should the mere fact that he has the means 
give him claim over the lion's share of the goods 
which, aside from his ownership of the raw ma- 
terial, the machinery and the shop, he has not 
worked to produce ? " 

A teaching closely connected with that of sur- 
plus value is that called " The Iron Law of Wages." 

According to this a working man's 

of w^g a e Y wages in the labor market are based 
not on what he produces, as we have 
already seen, but on what it costs for his support 
and enough besides to encourage him to marry 
and bring up children to become workers like 
himself. 

That is, it takes so much meat, so much flour, 
so much butter, so much oatmeal, to make a work- 
ing man and keep him going. It would not do to 
have the scale of wages very much below the cost 
of living, for there would then be no working 
men left. 

A horse can be fed on sawdust, but on such 
fodder he would not grow fat, his working power 
would grow less, until he could not work at all, 



136 SOCIALISM 

and he would die. As it is for the owner's inter- 
est to feed his horse on oats, so it is for the capi- 
talist's interest to give to the wage-earner enough 
to keep him alive and strong. The believers in 
social democracy claim that that is just what the 
capitalist does and all he does. 

Therefore, the cost of support and not the value 
of the product governs the wages of the working 
classes, and under the present system no working 
man can hope to escape from this law in the long 
run. 

One of Marx's most important doctrines is that 
relating to business panics. During " good times " 

manufacturers employ all the men, 
Business Panics women, and children who will work 
for them. The working classes live 
well, and because there is plenty of work there 
are consequently more marriages. Then comes 
a business panic. Thousands of laborers are 
thrown out of work, and must either starve or 
be supported at public expense. Thus upon so- 
ciety at large is thrown the burden of keeping 
the workers — the manufacturer's tools — for him 
until he needs them again. 

Those who are still at work are forced to take 
lower wages. When times become better the 



SOCIALISM 137 

employer is not obliged to raise these wages, be- 
cause the vast army of those who have been 
thrown out are glad to get work again at any 
price. The great number of idle workers, there- 
fore, which the panic has produced, becomes a 
means for making still more money for the capi- 
talist. 

Socialists believe that under a social democracy, 
or cooperative commonwealth, all these conditions 
would be changed. The worker would then re- 
ceive the full value of all the goods he produced, 
and all would share alike in the national pros- 
perity. 

Christian Socialism 

About 1850 there sprang up in England a form 
of socialistic belief called Christian Socialism. 
Under this form socialistic principles are to be 
carried out along the lines of the teachings of 
Christianity. In other words, it is socialism with 
religion added as a matter of belief and business 
policy. 

Before the formation of the English society, 
however, the idea had been put forward by a 
French priest named DeLemennais, who was born 
in 1782. He wished to make the Church the 



138 SOCIALISM 

front and head of the socialistic movement, and 
called upon the Pope and the clergy to " separate 
yourselves from the kings, extend your hand to 
the people." He hoped that the Church would 
found a grand cooperative society of laborers and 
thus free them from the yoke of the capitalist and 
the power of the landlord. These views did not 
suit the leaders of the Church, and he finally left 
it in despair. 

This idea of cooperation along the lines of 
Christian brotherhood was at the bottom of the 

movement in England which, for a 

T1 inBu8ineM Ulet i me J had & large following among 
high-minded and educated men. A 
society of Christian socialists was also started in 
the United States, but, as a society, no longer 
exists. 

They held that all rights and powers are gifts 
of God, not for the receiver's use only, but for 
the benefit of all ; that God is the source and 
guide of all human progress ; that all social, po- 
litical, and industrial relations should be based on 
the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of 
Man, in the spirit and according to the teachings 
of Jesus Christ ; that the present commercial and 
industrial system is not thus based, but is based 



SOCIALISM 139 

on a system that gives the control of the natural 
products of the earth and the mechanical inven- 
tions of man to the few instead of the many. 

In opposition to this system they held that 
united Christianity must work for a new social 
order by which all would benefit equally. They 
believed that the teachings of Jesus lead directly 
to some form or forms of socialism, and that in 
obedience to Him the Church must apply itself 
to the task of bringing about the new order in a 
peaceful way. So Christian Socialism means that 
the idea of brotherly love is to be carried into 
all the dealings of men, seven days in the week 
and in the shop and factory as well as in the 
church building. 

As socialists are now content to let each man 
decide the matter of religion for himself, Chris- 
tian Socialism as a separate movement has al- 
most ceased to exist, but its principles are still 
held by many socialists. 



CHAPTER XI 

SOCIALISM VS. INDIVIDUALISM 

Opposed to, socialism is what is called In- 
dividualism, which is the doctrine of independ- 
ence of action. In other words, it is the principle 
of acting according to one's own will or for one's 
own ends. That is, the individualist believes 
that each man can best work for himself alone. 
Lest this would seem to be pure selfishness those 
who hold this idea say that by fully satisfying 
the needs of each man, the welfare of all will 
best be secured. 

But the socialists say that this idea is wrong, 
because man's interests are so joined together 
that humanity as a whole cannot be truly happy 
and successful so long as there is anywhere 
within its ranks suffering and misery. So long 
as there is a class of poor people who find it hard 
to get even a living, the great body of the human 
race can no more be in a sound condition than 
can a man whose arms or legs are useless. 
Whether we wish it or not we must, in a way, 

140 



SOCIALISM 141 

be happy together and suffer together, for it is a 
law of human nature. We all act and react con- 
stantly upon each other, and the nature of our 
own condition, physical and mental, determines 
the quality of that action and reaction. As a 
chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so 
society as a whole is weak, so long as the happi- 
ness and good things of life are not within the 
reach of all. 

The individualist would have the government 
let things take care of themselves. If a person 
is able to make a good living and even to become 
wealthy without breaking any law, well and 
good ; if he is not able to make more than a 
mere existence and in old age finds himself in 
poverty and misery, well, says the individualist, 
that is no concern of the government, which 
should have nothing to do with the business 
affairs of the citizens. 

On the other hand the socialist desires the 
government to act the part of a generous father 
to his children in all the relations of life. But 
anything like government provision for the wel- 
fare and future of the worker is viewed with 
horror by the individualist, who immediately 
raises the cry of paternalism. Now paternalism 



142 SOCIALISM 

is nothing more nor less than fatherliness. But 
the individualist does not want the government 
to become too fatherly, and therefore he is 
against old-age pensions, taxes on fortunes, laws 
against the trusts, and such measures as would 
tend to make the laborers' lot better and freer 
from care and anxiety. 

Says the individualist : The present system is 
all right, because it promotes individuality. 

Socialist : Whose individuality ? And how 
much individuality is left to the working classes? 
Go to the gates of any of the shops or factories 
in our great industrial centres. See the opera- 
tives file out at the noon or the night hour. 
Men, women and children reduced to the dead 
level of the automatic machines at which they 
work. Tell me if you can how much individual- 
ity is left to the working class. Go to any 
factory village in New England. See the rows 
of houses all built on the same plan, all having 
the same shaped doors, the same size of windows, 
Noah's Ark houses built by the rod and sawed 
off by the yard in convenient lengths, all of them 
painted the same color, usually the color of the 
owner's stable. Tell me if you can whose in- 
dividuality is being promoted, and how much is 



SOCIALISM 143 

there left in the life of the working man. I am 
a socialist because I am an individualist. I am a 
socialist because I believe that the very highest 
type of individual liberty is found in voluntary 
social cooperation. "We must learn the lesson 
of liberty and we must learn it through coopera- 
tion. We must learn the lesson of cooperation 
and learn it through liberty. Liberty and co- 
operation, now and forever, one and insepara- 
ble ! " l 

Individualist : But socialism would destroy 
ambition. A man now works for success along 
a certain line because he feels that such success 
will bring him greater reward than he is now 
able to obtain. Give him the assurance, under 
socialism, that he is always sure of having as 
much as the rest, and you take away his ambi- 
tion. Very likely he would work as little as pos- 
sible, and would take little interest in that work. 

Socialist : You reason entirely from the stand- 
point of money value or material prosperity. 
There are men even now who work, not for the 
reward of their work, but because of the pleasure 
they take in it. Consider the lives of men of 
genius, the great artists, the great musicians, the 

1 Adapted from Dr. Howard A. Gibbs. 



144 SOCIALISM 

great writers, the great poets, the great in- 
ventors. Many of these labor for years for suc- 
cess in their chosen fields, not so much for the 
comforts and luxuries that such success will give, 
but simply because they cannot help it, and can 
be content only when doing that which nature 
has fitted them to do. Many of them never 
achieve what the world calls great success ; 
nevertheless, they are happy in making the most 
of the talent that God has given them. Some 
do achieve great fame and fortune after years of 
poverty and misery. Freed by socialism from 
the pangs of hunger and physical suffering, these 
men of God-given talent could devote themselves 
wholly to their chosen work. Because of this 
freedom from care and anxiety they would un- 
doubtedly reach the desired end all the quicker. 
Besides, under socialism', it is not impossible that 
there might be a system of rewards that would 
be amply satisfying. Men even now feel honored 
by the Yictoria Cross, not because of its value as 
a jewel, but because it shows superiority of a 
certain order. Heal fame, too, cannot even to-day 
be bought with money, and a man would feel as 
much pleasure in obtaining that under socialism 
as he does now. 



SOCIALISM 145 

Individualist : Ah, but we are not speaking 
of genius or men of great talent. We are speak- 
ing of the common working man who has 
neither talent nor genius. The present system 
stimulates his ambition by holding out the idea 
of something to be gained by his work — a better 
position, wealth, more comforts and luxuries. It 
is mainly with the idea of obtaining these that 
he works. 

Socialist : To some extent that is true. Manv 
do work for fame and wealth ; many more work 
without the hope of obtaining either, simply for 
the daily wage to keep body and soul together. 
More often than not the former do not obtain 
either wealth or commanding position. The lat- 
ter perhaps earn a bare living by all their work, 
but little else. Under socialism they would have 
these anyway ; but they would still work. 
Why ? Because, in order to get these things 
they would have to. There would be no room 
for idlers. All would have to labor in order to 
live. But in a successful Cooperative Common- 
wealth all work would be much easier and 
pleasanter than at present, because machinery 
would perform many of the operations now done 
by hand. Man is naturally a working animal. 



146 SOCIALISM 

Except in rare cases he cannot be contented with 
idleness. Therefore, under conditions in which 
he knew that every stroke done counted for his 
own material welfare he would work cheerfully, 
where he now works sullenly to swell the profits 
of his employer and gain for himself a bare pit- 
tance. 

You say that the present system stimulates 
ambition. Let me ask what kind of ambition 
does it stimulate ? It says to the working man, 
If you will toil early and late and save up your 
hard-earned dollars, by and by you can possibly 
work yourself out of the ranks of the laboring 
class ; by and by you can become a little land- 
lord, a little business man, a little capitalist your- 
self. In other words, if you will be content to 
let the capitalist ride on your back, by and by 
you can begin to ride on some one's else back. If 
you will be content to be robbed, by and by you 
can become a little robber in your own account. 
This is the ambition which this system furnishes. 
It is not a stimulus to work, but a stimulus to 
beat your neighbor by fair means or foul in the 
race of life ; it is not a stimulus to produce, but 
a stimulus to plunder ;. not a stimulus for a man 
to do his best or be his best, but simply a stimu« 



SOCIALISM 147 

lus to take advantage of some one else. Its motto 
is, " Each one for himself and the devil take the 
hindermost." 

Individualist : It is foolish to talk of robbery 
in connection with the returns which capital 
rightly receives for its enterprise. Both profit 
and wages are the rewards of man's ability. 
Profits are also the rightful rewards of the 
risks the capitalist is willing to take. He puts 
his money into a business on the chance of get- 
ting it back again. Because of these facts is he 
not entitled to the lion's share ? 

Socialist : No, he is not. Do you honestly 
suppose that Mr. Rockefeller carries under his 
hat brains and ability so much in excess of the 
brains and ability of most of his fellow men as 
to enable him to really earn his annual income of 
$4,800,000, while the average working man re- 
ceives $480 a year. If it is merely a matter of 
brains, Rockefeller's head would have to be as 
much larger to contain his, as his great income is 
larger than the pittance received by the common 
laborer. In appearance this would make him a 
monster like nothing so much as those curious in- 
habitants of Mars described by H. G. Wells in 
one of his stories as being all head and little or 



148 SOCIALISM 

no body. We know that this is not so. In size 
and shape Rockefeller's head is nothing out of 
the ordinary ; it can be matched, and more than 
matched, any day in the ranks of the common 
working man. Does natural ability alone account 
for his immense earning power ? Hardly, for who 
outside of a lunatic asylum believes that he has 
the ability of ten thousand working men of the 
four hundred and eighty-dollar class ? How 
then did he succeed in obtaining his immense in- 
come? Read the history of the Standard Oil 
Company as given in Lloyd's " Wealth vs. Com- 
monwealth," and Miss Ida M. Tarbell's revela- 
tions of the same concern. Read how it cor- 
rupted judges, bribed legislators, and caused the 
Goddess of Justice to hide her eyes in shame in 
both State and National courts ; read how T , with- 
out mercy, it destroyed the business of honest 
competitors by means of secret arrangements 
with the railroads, and by force when all else 
failed, in order to build up its giant monopoly of 
the oil business. Read all this and then tell me, 
if you can, in what particular this ability differs 
from highway robbery. No, the difference be- 
tween Mr. Rockefeller and the working man is 
only one of degree and opportunity. Under our 



SOCIALISM 149 

present system the ability of either counts for 
little unless he can find some one weaker than 
himself upon whom to exercise that ability. 

Individualist : I am willing to admit that 
there are dishonest capitalists who have made 
immense fortunes by violent and unjust methods, 
but you forget that there are honest capitalists 
also — men who have been common working men 
themselves and have made their wealth by strict 
attention to business and shrewdness in the man- 
agement of its every detail. There are no classes 
in this country and every man has the opportu- 
nity to rise if he has it in him. 

Socialist : I will admit that there are honest 
capitalists, but they are not in the five million a 
year class. No man can make even a million 
dollars a year without robbing some of his fel- 
low men of what is rightly theirs. You say that 
there are no classes in the United States. Let us 
consider the question a little. In order to have 
a class you must have a group of individuals who 
are bound together by common interests which 
are not the interests of individuals outside that 
group. Is it not a fact that the owners of capi- 
tal form such a class in America ? Do not the 
working people also form a similar class ? Is not 



150 SOCIALISM 

the interest of the capitalist class, say, in the mat 
ter of the income tax, quite contrary to the in- 
terest of the laboring class ? So with other 
things ; the interests of the capitalists and the in- 
terests of the working men are directly opposed 
to each other. They therefore form two distinct 
classes, each having its own class feeling. You 
may deny this fact, but it is true, nevertheless. 

You say that the opportunity to rise is still 
open to every man. This may have been so 
once, but the gateway of opportunity after oppor- 
tunity has been closed, and closed for all time. 
Carnegie has shut the door in the faces of those 
who would take up the manufacture of steel; 
Rockefeller has closed it to would-be producers of 
oil ; the sugar trust has locked it on sugar ; the 
beef trust on animal food products ; and the 
American Tobacco Company on tobacco. This 
is true of other lines of production and manufac- 
ture. Although ambitious young men still 
continue to be born in the working class, 
their chance to rise very high above their class 
has been taken away from them by those who 
were fortunate enough to be born half a century 
earlier. 

Individualist: Well, even if it be granted 



SOCIALISM 151 

that the opportunity to rise is less to-da} r than it 
once was, the fact remains that the workers are 
better paid now than ever before, and that the 
great prosperity of the country makes it possible 
for every one to find work if he wants to 
work. 

Socialist : Wages may be better than they were 
a few years ago, but the greater cost of living 
more than makes up the difference. But I deny 
the fact that no one need go without work if he 
really wants to find it. In spite of the country's 
prosperity there are still strong and able workers 
who are forced to live in idleness the greater 
portion of the time simply because w T ork which 
they can do is not to be obtained. This was 
strikingly illustrated by the first few days' ex- 
perience of the Free Employment Bureau, started 
under the laws and protection of the State of 
Massachusetts in the city of Boston in December, 
1906. Up to noon of the second day eighteen 
hundred applications for work were received, and 
at that time there were still four hundred men 
and boys and one hundred and twenty-five 
women and girls waiting patiently in line to 
register. Admitting that a considerable number 
of the applicants came from people who were 



152 SOCIALISM 

already employed but desired something better, 
the records showed that the great majority ap- 
plied because they were unemployed. While 
more young men than any other class appeared, 
it was a sad fact that many old men and women 
were among the applicants. Under socialism, 
both of these classes, the young and the old, 
would find tasks suited to their strength and 
ability. Instead of being obliged to look for 
work, the work would look for them. The suc- 
cess of this movement means the complete over- 
throw of the present wage system and the ills 
that spring from it — the inequality of reward 
and the uncertainty of opportunity to labor. 

Individualist : How could you provide work 
for all ? The supply of products and manufac- 
tured goods is already usually sufficient to meet 
all demands. To guarantee work to every one 
you would be obliged to largely increase produc- 
tion and manufacture. Would not this result in 
overproduction, and consequently enforced idle- 
ness for the workers during long periods ? If the 
nation were required at such times to still guar- 
antee the support of every one, it would speedily 
go into bankruptcy. 

Socialist : Under the present system it might, 



SOCIALISM 153 

but under socialism no. You say that at present 
the supply of products and manufactured 
goods is sufficient for all demands. In a Co- 
operative Commonwealth a far larger product 
would be required than at present because then 
commodities would become free like air and 
water. At present the masses go without many 
things that would add to their comfort and hap- 
piness, simply because they cannot afford to pur- 
chase them. The national product would, under 
socialism, be for use and not for trading purposes 
or exchange. All forces would therefore work 
together for a large product, whereas at the 
present time powerful forces sometimes strive to 
keep down the supply in order to add to personal 
wealth by selling at higher prices. Make it pos- 
sible for the people to satisfy all their needs and 
the demand would be so greatly increased that a 
nation of workers would hardly suffice to keep 
up with it. So long as physical wants remain 
there would be no reason why all labor and all 
capital should not be employed. 

•Individualist: Hitherto you have considered 
socialism simply as a scheme to make better the 
condition of the wage-earner. What would you 
do with the present-day millionaires and the 



154 SOCIALISM 

great trust managers and capitalists in the new 
order of society ? 

Socialist : Find places for them as we would 
for the workers. It is one of the strongest points 
of socialism that it takes in every one ; it leaves 
no room for either a submerged tenth existing in 
hopeless poverty and misery or a capitalist class 
living on the labor of others. The millionaire 
and the capitalist would lose little that he now 
enjoys, except the control of a large fortune and 
the privilege of living in idleness. The million- 
aires and capitalists would be given positions in 
the new commonwealth suited to their abilities. 
The managers of great trusts and corporations, 
whose experience has given them great business 
capacity, could still exercise that capacity in the 
management of the nation's industries. The 
people themselves would simply step in and 
take the profits, but of course the managers 
would have a share in those profits. The sixty 
millions of dividends which the Standard Oil 
Company declares every year would be dis- 
tributed among the people as a whole. The same 
would be true of the United States SteelCorpora- 
tion. If the president of that corporation, at the 
time of the change, knew the steel business better 



SOCIALISM 155 

than any one else, he might become Secretary of 
the Department of Iron and Steel of the Coopera- 
tive Commonwealth. But as the President of a 
nation of nearly eighty million people works for 
$50,000 a year, the Secretary of Iron and Steel 
must expect to have his salary cut accordingly. 
And not only would the people take to themselves 
the profits of national production and manu- 
facture, but also the immense receipts which the 
capitalists to-day draw from rents, mines, fac- 
tories, and all manner of enterprises. And in the 
day when the common man becomes the master, 
it will clearly be for his own interest to make 
the sum of human happiness far greater than it is 
now. No man will then work for a bare living 
wage, but every man will have work to do, and 
will be paid exceptionally well for doing it. 
Every man will then be able to marry, to live in 
healthful, comfortable quarters, and to have all 
he desires to eat, as many times a day as he 
wishes. The new order of things would not per- 
mit of the present life and death struggle for 
food and shelter. 

Individualist: Your mention of marriage 
brings to mind one great objection which it seems 
to me would alone work against the success of 



156 SOCIALISM 

socialism. With guaranteed incomes and assured 
support for one's family, as well as for one's self, 
would there not be danger of such an enormous 
growth in population as to make each one's share 
increasingly smaller, and in the course of a few 
centuries completely fill the world? 

Socialist : To this I might answer that it is 
useless to cross a bridge until we come to it. 
The law of population is not yet well enough 
known for us to say exactly what would be the 
result of a more rapid increase in the number of 
the world's inhabitants. It is certain, however, 
that there is vastly more room on earth than is 
occupied by those who now live upon it. It has 
been noted, too, that as men increase in intelli- 
gence and prosperity they have fewer children. 
In a Cooperative Commonwealth where educa- 
tional and other advantages were open to all, 
there would be a great increase of intelligence 
and culture, w T hich might have their effect upon 
the birth rate. No one can walk of a summer 
night through the narrow back streets and alleys 
of the slum districts in our large cities without 
being impressed with the fact that it is the poor 
and ignorant who usually have the largest fami- 
lies. Children of all ages, dirty, ragged and half- 



SOCIALISM 157 

starved, are to be seen swarming everywhere. 
They sprawl and tumble in the gutters, rest and 
sleep in the doorways, and hang out of the 
windows in groups of two or three. Families of 
from five to ten and even more, ranging from 
babyhood to youth still in its teens, are not un- 
common. On the contrary go to Fifth Avenue 
or Commonwealth Avenue and you find a con- 
dition exactly the reverse. Families among the 
rich, intelligent and well-fed rarely number more 
than five and, more often than not, two or three. 
You cannot, therefore, argue from these facts 
that increasing intelligence and prosperity would 
result in over-population. Still, even admitting 
that there should be danger of such a condition, 
it is probable that, when the danger became 
evident, the instinct of self-preservation would be 
sufficient to put a check upon the birth rate. It 
is also not beyond reason to believe that, as 
population threatened to become too numerous 
for the earth to support, Nature herself might 
step in to prevent this result. If we have faith 
in the goodness and wisdom of Divine Law, we 
can safely leave the problem for the far-distant 
future to solve. It is one that will not bother 
this generation nor the next. 



List of Socialistic Works 



SOCIALISM IN GENEKAL 

A History of Socialism. Third edition, revised 
and enlarged. By Thomas Elirkup. London, 
1906. 

Socialism. A Summary and Interpretation 

of Socialist Principles. By John Spargo. 
New York, 1906. 

In his preface the author announces that his volume is 
wholly unpretentious in its aim, and that it is intended 
to be an introduction to a subject of growing interna- 
tional interest and importance. He contends that the 
organization of the Socialist state must be democratic, 
for socialism without democracy " is as impossible as 
shadow without light." A new and popular exposition 
of the subject. 

History of Socialism in the United States. 
By Morris Hillquit. New York, 1906. 

A complete account of the origin, development, and pres- 
ent' status of the socialistic movement throughout the 
United States, indispensable to an intelligent apprecia- 
tion of socialism as it exists in this country. A serious 
and important work. 

War of the Classes. By Jack London. New 
York, 1905. 

A cheap paper-covered book containing seven chapters 
on various aspects of the industrial problem, written in 
the author's usual vivid and interesting style. 

159 



160 LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WORKS 

Socialism, the Basis of Universal Peace. 
By Dr. Howard A. Gibbs. New York, 1905. 

Thirty-two pages brim full of valuable information, 
culled from an extensive reading of authorities in 
science and economics, presented with unusual beauty 
of language and charm of style. Valuable and scientific 
information as to the historical, economic and ethical 
sides of socialism gleam on every page. 

Industrial Peace Through Socialism. By Dr. 
Howard A. Gibbs. New York, 1905. 

A twenty-page pamphlet by the author of the foregoing, 
printed especially for the Essex County, New Jersey, 
campaign committee of the Socialist party. A strong 
arraignment of the capitalistic system. 

Socialism : From Utopia to Science. By Fred- 
erick Engels. 

Comprising the literary number of " The Vanguard " 
(Milwaukee), March, 1905. A part of a larger work 
written by this well known follower of Karl Marx. 
Shows the historical basis of socialism, and is rather 
hard reading for beginners. 

Unionism and Socialism. By Eugene V. Debbs. 
Published by The Vanguard, 1905. 

A ten-cent pamphlet showing why every worker should 
be a Socialist, written in simple, direct language. 

The Struggle for Existence. By Walter 
Thomas Mills, A. M. Chicago, 1905. 

A study of the foundation principles of social economy 
and their application to the collective struggle for exist- 
ence. More than six hundred pages containing a thou- 
sand questions of the greatest importance to the work- 
ing class, carefully stated and discussed. Written in 
the plainest English. 



LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WORKS 161 

Socialism Made Plain. By Allan L. Benson. 
Milwaukee, 1905. 

Mr. Benson was formerly employed on the New York 
Journal, and is a master of plain, direct and thought- 
compelling English. A big book sold at a small price. 

Confessions of Capitalism. By A. L. Benson. 

Principles and Programme of Socialism. Re- 
vised edition. By Carl D. Thompson. Milwau- 
kee, 1905. 

Explains in simple language what socialism is, what it 
is not, and how to inaugurate it. (Pamphlet.) 

Capital. Second American edition. By Karl 
Marx. Translated from the German by Samuel 
Moore and Edward Aveling. Edited by Fred- 
erick Engels. A critical analysis of capitalist 
production. 

This great work, known as the " Bible of the Working 
Man " is the product of American labor, being free from 
the typographical errors of the English edition. New 
and large type, bound in extra cloth. Milwaukee, 1905, 

The Larger View of Municipal Ownership. 
By John A. Zangerie. Cleveland, 1906. (Pam- 
phlet.) 

The author believes that " We are bound to have monop- 
olies ; the only question is whether they shall own the 
public or the public own them." He writes, " To assist 
in some small degree in diverting public sentiment from 
the dollar view," which has hitherto obscured all other 
considerations in the discussions and operations of mu- 
nicipal ownership. 



162 LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WORKS 

Socialism and Social Eeform. By Richard 
T. Ely, Ph. D., LL. D. New York, 1894. 

The work is divided into four parts : Part One treating 
of the Nature of Socialism ; Part Two, of the Strength of 
Socialism ; Part Three, of the Weakness of Socialism ; 
and Part Four, the Golden Mean, or Practicable Social 
Reform. The author's views are presented in a clear, 
candid, and fearless manner, and furnish one of the 
best discussions of the subject. 

French and German Socialism in Modern 
Times. By Biehard T. Ely. New York, 1883. 

The author says : " My aim is to give a perfectly fair, im- 
partial presentation of modern communism and social- 
ism in their two strongholds, France and Germany. I 
believe that in so doing I am rendering a service to the 
friends of law and order." The book is full of infor- 
mation concerning the many different schools of so- 
cialism in these two countries. 

The Ethics of Socialism. By Ernest Belfort 
Bax. London, 1889. 

The author is a defender of materialist socialism and pre- 
sents socialism in one of its least attractive forms. 

Modern Socialism. By Annie Besant. London, 
1890. 

What is Socialism I By W. D. P. Bliss. Boston, 
1894. 

Studies in Modern Socialism and Labor Prob- 
lems. By Thomas Edwin Brown. New York, 

18S& 

The author is a clergyman who- has given considerable 
attention to the subject, and endeavors to be fair, while 
at the same time critical. 



LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WOEKS 163 

The Distribution of Wealth. By J. E. Com- 
mons. New York and London, 1893. 

An able treatment of some of the economic principles in- 
volved in socialism, with valuable statistics on the con- 
centration of wealth. 

Socialism, New and Old. By William Graham. 
New York, 1891. 

Greeley and Other Pioneers of American 
Socialism. By Charles Sotheran. New York, 
1892. 

The Cooperative Commonwealth : An Exposi- 
tion of Modern Socialism. By Laurence 
Gronlund. Boston, 1884, and New York, 1887. 

Communism in America. By H. A. James. New 
York, 1879. 

Methods of Social Beform. By William Stan- 
ley Jevons London, 1883. 

The author favors cooperation and profit-sharing, but 
opposes government ownership of railroads. The work 
is written with great clearness and attractiveness. 

Class Struggles in America. By A. M. Simons. 
Third edition. Chicago, 1907. 

Stepping-Stones to Socialism. By David Max- 
well. London, 1891. 

Socialism. By John Stuart Mill. New York, 
1891. 

Art and Socialism. By William Morris. Lon- 
don, 1884. 



o 



164 LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WORKS 

Signs of Change. By Morris. London, 1889. 

Socialism, Its Growth and Outcome. By Mor- 
ris. London, 1893. 

William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. 
New York, 1891. 

Contemporary Socialism. By John Bae. Lon- 
don, 1891. 

With additional chapters on Anarchism, State Socialism, 
and Russian Nihilism. 

Communism. By John Buskin. New York, 1891. 

Owen and the Christian Socialists. By 
E. B. A. Seligman. New York, 1886. 

Contains a full list of the works of Robert Owen and the 
Christian Socialists. 

Communism and Socialism in Their History 
and Theory. By T. D. Woolsey. New York, 

1880. 

Socialism and Philosophy. By Antonio Labriola. 
Translated from the third Italian Edition. Chi- 
cago, 1907. 



CHEISTIAN SOCIALISM 

Christianity and Socialism. By Alfred Barry. 
London, 1890. 

Declares that Christianity should seek to balance social- 
ism by emphasizing the sacredness of individuality. 



LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WORKS 165 

Socialism of Christ. By A. Bierbower. Chi- 
cago, 1891. 

What is Christian Socialism? By W. D. P. 
Bliss. Boston, 1894. 

Socialism of Christianity. By W. Blissard. 
London, 1891. 

Social Christianity. By Hugh Price Hughes. 
New York, 1889. 

Theory of Christian Socialism. By Moritz 
Kaufmann. London, 1888. 

Socialism as a Moral Movement. By D. J. Med- 
ley. Oxford, 1884. 

Socialism and Beform in the Light of the 
New Church. By B. L. Tafel. London, 1891. 

Christian Socialism : What and Why ! By 
Philo W. Sprague. New York, 1891. 

Spiritual Socialism. By Vida D. Scudder. Bos- 
ton, 1893. 

Christian Socialism. By W. Tuckwell. Lon- 
don, 1891. 



SOCIALISTIC STOBIES 

Stephen Bemarx. By James Adderley. London, 
1893. 



166 LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WORKS 

Looking Backward (2000-1887). By Edward 
Bellamy. Boston, 1890. 

Describes the strange experiences of Julian West, a 
wealthy young Bostonian who is put to sleep by a hyp- 
notist in 1887, and is resuscitated by Dr. Leete in the 
year 2000. Gives an account of the changed appearance 
of the city, the absence of buying and selling, the 
method of exchanges between nations, the regulation 
of employment by means of guilds, and the carrying 
out of the cooperative scheme in all departments of 
life. Upon this book was founded the doctrines of 
Nationalism. 

Equality. By Edward Bellamy. New York, 
1897. 

A sequel to " Looking Backward." Less a story, but a 
deeper and more comprehensive consideration of the 
subject than the former work. 

All Sorts and Conditions of Men. By Walter 
Besant. London, 1887. 

To indicate to the working women of East London a way 
of escape from the meanness, misery, and poverty of 
their lives, the heroine of the story sets up among them 
a cooperative dressmaking establishment, she herself 
living with her work girls. The famous People's Palace 
of East London had its origin in this story ; and mainly 
because of it, the author was knighted. 

Sybil, on Two Nations. By Benjamin Disraeli. 
London. 

Demos : A Story of English Socialism. By 
George Gissing. Paris, 1886. 



LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WORKS 167 

The Blithedale Bomance. By Nathaniel Haw- 
thorne. Boston. 

Founded on the Brook Farm Community's (Roxbury, 
Mass.) attempt to realize equality and fraternity in 
labor. 

A Hazard of New Fortunes. By William Dean 
Howells. New York, 1890. 

Illustrates the conditions of metropolitan life, especially 
as these are concerned with the extremes of poverty 
and wealth. The novel is something more than a clever 
drawing of places and people ; deep ethical and social 
questions are involved in it. It is a drama of human 
life in the fullest sense. 

The Traveler from Altruria. By Howells. 
New York, 1893. 

Alton Locke. By Charles Kingsley. London, 
1892. 

First published in England in 1850, this book made a 
great stir, and did much to turn the thoughts of the 
upper ranks of society to their responsibility for the 
lower. Its hero, a poet-tailor, feels deep in his soul the 
horrors of the sweating system and other abuses which 
grind the poor, and devotes himself to their ameliora- 
tion. 

Yeast. By Kingsley. London, 1890. 

The Old Order Changes. By W. H. Mallock. 
London, 1887. 

The Dream of John Ball. By William Morris. 
London, 1889. 

News from Nowhere. By Morris. London, 1892. 



168 LIST OF SOCIALISTIC WORKS 

The New Atlantis. By Francis Bacon. Lon- 
don, 1885. 

The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656). By 
James Harrington. London, 1887. 

Utopia. By Thomas More. London, 1886. 

First written in Latin in 1615, this book is the source 
from which have been taken many of the socialistic 
ideas, which are to-day interesting modern thinkers. 
In the imaginary country of Utopia (meaning in Greek 
'no place"), the government is representative. The 
life is communism. No man is allowed to be idle ; but 
labor is abridged, and the hours of toil are as brief as 
is consistent with the general welfare. All are well 
educated, and take interest in the study of good litera- 
ture. Such a lessening of labor is gained by a commu- 
nity of all things that none are in need, aud there is no 
desire to amass more than each man can use. Gold 
and silver are only used for vessels of baser use, and 
for the fetters of bondmen. Happiness is regarded as 
the highest good ; but that of the community is above 
that of the individual. Law-breakers are made bond- 
men. There are few laws ; for the Utopians do not be- 
lieve it just that men should be bound by laws more 
numerous than can be read, or more complex than may 
be readily understood. War is abhorred ; it being most 
just when employed to take vacant land from people 
who keep others from the possession of it. 



POPULAR HAND-BOOKS 




COME books are designed foi 
entertainment, others for informa- 
tion. ^ This series combines both 
features. The information is not only 
complete and reliable, it is compact 
and readable. In this busy, bustling 
age it is required that the information 
which books contain shall be ready to 
hand and be presented in the clearest 
and briefest manner possible. ^ These volumes are replete 
with valuable information, compact in form and unequalled 
in point of merit and cheapness. They are the latest as 
veil as the best books on the subjects of which they treat 
No one who wishes to have a fund of general information 
or who has the desire for self-improvement can afford to be 
without them. <} They are 6 x A}A inches in size, weB 
printed on good paper, handsomely bound in green cloth* 
with a heavy paper wrapper to match. 



doth, each 50 cents 



THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY 

923 Arch Street, Philadelphia 



ETIQUETTE There ts no passport to good soci**Q 

By Agnes H Morton l&e good manners. €J Ever* though one 

possess wealth and intelligence, his suc- 
cess in life may be marred hy ignorance of social customs. 
€J A perusal of this book wall prevent such blunders. It is 
a book for everybody, for the social leaders as well as foi 
those less arr?L kious. ^ The subject is presented in a bright 
and interesting manner, and represents the latest vogue. 

LETTER WRITING Why do most persons dislike to 
By Agnes H. Morton write letters ? Is it not because 

they cannot say the right thing in 
the right place ? This admirable book not only shows by 
numerous examples iust what kind of letters to write, but by 
direction** and suggestions enables the reader to become an 
accomplished original letter writer. €| There are forms for all 
kinds of business and social letters, including invitations, 
acceptances, letters of sympathy, congratulations, and lovs 
letters. 

QUOTATIONS A clever compilation of pithy quota* 
By Agnes H. Morton nons » selected from a great variety of 

sources, and alphabetically arranged 
according to the sentiment. €| In addition to all the popular 
quotations in current use, it contains many rare bits of prose 
and verse not generally found in similar collections, ^ One 
inportant feature of the book is found in the characteristic 
fines from well known authors, in which the familiar sayingi 
«* credited to their original sources. 



fPHAPHS Even death has its humorous side 

By Frederic W, Unger ^ There are said to be ' sermons in 

Clones," but when they are tombstones 
ihere is many a smile mixed with the moral. €j Usually 
churchyard humor is all the more delightful because it is 
unconscious, but there are times when it is intentional and 
none the less amusing. ^ Of epitaphs, old and new 9 this 
book contains the best. It is full of quaint bits of obituary 
fancy, with a touch of the gruesome here and there for a 
relish. 

PROVERBS The genius, wit, and spirit of a natioa 
By John H. Bechtel af e discovered in its proverbs, and the 

condensed wisdom of all ages and all 
nations is embodied in them. €J A good proverb that fits 
the case is often a convincing argument. ^ This volume 
contains a representative collection of proverbs, old and new, 
mid the indexes, topical and alphabetical, enable one to find 
readily just what he requires. 

THINGS WORTH Can you name the coldest place k 

KNOWING the United States or tell what yeai 

By John H Bechtel kad 445 days? Do you know 

how soon the coal fields of the 
world are likely to be exhausted, or how the speed of a 
moving train may be told ? What should you do firs! d 
you got a cinder in your eye, or your neighbor's baby swal 
towed a pin ? This unique, up-to-date book answers thou 
*dnds d jus! such interesting and useful questions. 



A DICTIONARY OF Mo& of us disfike to took up * 

MYTHOLOGY mythological subject because 

8y John H Bcchtel oi *e time required, q This 

book remedies that difficulty 
because in it can be found at a glance ju£t what is wanted 
flj It is comprehensive, convenient, condensed, and the infor- 
mation is presented in such an interesting manner that when 
once read it will always be remembered. €| A di£inclive 
feature of the book is the pronunciation of the proper names, 
something found in few other works. 

SLIPS OF SPEECH Who does not make them? 
By John H. Bechtcl The besl of us do. Cf Why not 

avoid them ? Any one inspired 
with the spirit of self-improvement may readily do so. €J No 
necessity for studying rules of grammar or rhetoric when this 
book may be had. It teaches both without the Study of 
either, fj It is a counsellor, a critic, a companion, and a 
guide, and is written in a mo£t entertaining and chattj 
&yle. 

HANDBOOK OF What is more disagreeable 

PRONUNCIATION &<m a faulty pronunciation? 

By John h\ Bechtel No otner defed so cIearl y 

shows a lack of culture. €| This 

book contains over 5,000 words on which mo$t of us are 

apt to trip. •! They are here pronounced in the cleared and 

simplest manner, and according to the be& authority, fl It is 

more readily consulted than a dictionary 9 and » juil «** 



-3. 



PRACTICAL A new word h a new tool Q Th» 

SYNONYMS book will not only enlarge your vocabu- 

3y John H. Bechtcl W» but will show you how to express 

the exact shade of meaning you have 
m niind^ and will cultivate a more precise habit of thought 
and speech. ^ It will be found invaluable to busy journalists* 
merchants* lawyers, or clergymen, and as an aid to teachers 
no less than to the boys and girls under their care* 

AFTER-DINNER The dinner itself may be ever so 

STORIES good, and yet prove a failure if there 

8y John Harrison ■ no ^^ to enliven the company. 

fj Nothing adds so much zest to an 
occasion of this kind as a good gtory well told, fj Here are 
hundreds of the latent, beSt, brightest, and mo£t catchy Stories, 
aB of them short and pithy, and so easy to remember that 
anyone can tell them successfully. t[ There are also a 
aumber of selected toasts suitable to all occasions. 

TOASTS Most men dread being called upon to 

By William Pittcngcr respond to a toa£t or to make an ad- 
dress. €J What would you not give for 
the ability to be rid of this embarrassment ? No need to 
give much when you can leam the art from this little book. 
•j It will teD you how to do it ; not only that, but by ex- 
ample it will show the way. ^ It is valuable not alone to 
the novice, but to the experienced speaker, who will gathef 
Worn it many suggestion* 



E DEBATER'S There is no greater ability thae 
T^EASUI^Y the power of skillful and forcible 

By Wiiiiam Pittengcr debate, and no accomplishment 

more readily acquired if the person 
% properly directed. ^ In this tittle volume are directions for 
organizing and conducting debating societies and practical 
suggestions for all who desire to discuss questions in public. 
C| There is also a list of over 200 questions for debate, wkh 
arguments both affirmative and negative, 

PUNCTUATION Few persons can punctuate properly % 
By Paul Allardyce *° avo *d mistakes many do not punctu« 

ate at all. €J A perusal of this book 
will remove all difficulties and make all points clear. ^ The 
*ules are plainly stated and freely illustrated, thus furnishing 
a most useful volume. $J The author is everywhere recog- 
lized as the leading authority upon the subject, and what 
he has to say is practical, concise, and comprehensive. 

ORATORY Few men ever enjoyed a wider ex- 

By Henry Ward Beecher perience or achieved a higher repu- 
tation in public speaking than Mr. 
Beecher. f§ What he has to say on th's subject was bom 
of experience, and his own inimitable style was at once both 
statement and illustration of his theme. C| This volume is 
a unique and masterly treatise on the fundamental principles 
p$ tjrus oratory* 



CONVERSATION Some people are accused ol talk- 
Sy J. p . Mahaffy m § to ° muc h. But no one is eve* 

taken to task tor talking too wel 
1$ Of all the accomplishments of modern society, that of 
being an agreeable conversationalist holds first place. Noth- 
ing is more delightful or valuable, €J To suggest what to 
say, just how and when to say it, is the general aim of this 
work, and it succeeds most admirably in its purpose. 



READING Tta ability to read aloud w 

AS A FINE ART whether at the fireside or on the 

By Ernest Legouvl P ubKc Perform, is a fine art 

€| The directions and sugges- 
tions contained in this work of standard authority will go fai 
toward the attainment of this charming accomplishment, 
CJ The work is especially recommended to teachers and 
Dthers interested in the instruction of public school pupils. 

CONUNDRUMS Conundrums sharpen our wits and 
By Dean Rivers ' eac ^ us to tkink quickly. €| They are 

also a source of infinite amusement 
and pleasure, whiling away tedious hours and putting every- 
one in good humor. ^ This book contains an excellent col- 
lection of over a thousand of the latest, brightest, and mosl 
up-to-date conundrums, to which are added many Biblical 
poetical, and Freiidi conundrums, 

* 



MAGIC There is no more delightful form of enter- 

$y Ellis Stanyon tainment than that afforded by the per- 
formances of a magician. €fl Mysterious as 
these performances appear, they may be very readily learned 
if carefully explained. ^ This book embraces full and 
detailed descriptions of all the well known tricks with coins, 
handkerchiefs, hats, flowers, and cards, together with a 
number of novelties not previously produced or explained 
€J Fully illustrated. 

HYPNOTISM There is no more popular or 

By Edward H Eldridge, A M. interesting form of entertain- 

ment than hypnotic exhibitions; 
and everyone would like to know how to hypnotize. ^ By 
following the simple and concise instructions contained in this 
complete manual anyone may, with a little practice, readily 
Warn how to exercise this unique and strange power. 

WHIST "According to Cavendish" is now 

By Cavendish almost as familiar an expression as 

Twcnty.third Edition " according to Hoyle." CJ No whist 

player, whether a novice or an expert, 
can afford to be without the aid and support of Cavendish. 
No household in which the game is played is complete 
without a copy of this book. ^ This edition contains alt 
of the matter found in the English publication and at one 
fourth the colt 



JUN 






4 



LIBRARY 




F CONGRESS 




027 293 727 8 



